Going Nuts for Nuts

Every time I want a filling snack that is not super fattening I can always depend on some type of nuts to hold me over. I am not a big breakfast eater at all and because of this my metabolism has slowed down tremendously. I found a solution to my problem with nuts. I either grab a large bag of almonds or trail mix, depending on if I have a sweet tooth or not, and the usually satisfies my hunger. Nuts, especially almonds are packed with fiber, which is an amazing component to help burn fat, so the calorie from fat are more so cancelled out by the good affects of the fiber. I love trail mix, specifically the fruit and nuts kind, because it’s a super healthy salty and sweet snack. I mean really, who doesn’t love salty sweet snacks? My favorite combination contains the almonds and raisins together, then in some of the bites add in a few sunflower seeds. I think this love for nuts came from my younger days with my step-father. Every day when he would come get me from the babysitter after he got off work, we would take the same route. At this same intersection every day, a nice older lady would sell peanuts and newspapers. Every day he would buy a newspaper and bag of peanuts, there came a point where she would have our order waiting for us when we pulled up and he would have her money ready. I would eat half the bag of nuts before we made it home. Then he would go to the store and grab a can of mixed nuts, which I would finish in three days tops.

T-Bone and and Baked Potato

Every time I come home, I have to have my mom throw me a t-bone and a baked potato on the grill. I have never had a t-bone as good as hers; she has tricks that she won't even tell me when cooking them. She never thaws it in cold water like some people do, she lets it naturally thaw which apparently helps it contain juices. I’ve never watched her season them because she wakes up early in the morning and season them so that they can have a few hours to marinate and absorb the flavors. Then she uses Kingsfords charcoal and lightening fluid to start the fire. Before she seasons the meet she puts some hickory wood chips in some water to soak and uses them as well in the grill. I don't know if it's the hickory wood chips or the seasonings she used or the amount of time she lets the meat absorb those seasonings but whatever it is makes for an amazing steak. I have gone to several steakhouses, which originally had me thinking I didn't like steak, but after tasting my mom's I love steak. I love potatoes in every form. My favorite is baked potatoes because you can add all the toppings you want right in the slit. I really believe cooking it with the skin still on also adds flavor to it. However, it’s something about the smoke from the grill that makes a baked potato so much better. Putting the two together makes one delicious comfortable meal.

Bad summertime foods and beverages

On the other hand some not-so-good things to consume in such hot heat are some of the things we most often eat. I know for my family, who loves the outdoors, heat is the perfect time to cook outdoors. They get to eat wholesome feeling foods without having to “sit in a hot kitchen.” During the summer my family barbeques at least twice a month, not including holidays. If they’re not barbequing, they are having a fish fry. These events are always filled with all types of foods in very larger quantities. Whether it’s a fish fry, barbeque, or picnic my family always has potato salad as a side dish. Potato salad is full of starch and very little vegetables. Starch is very heavy on the body and in high heat, which already makes you a bit sluggish; potato salad can significantly slow your body down. They also make all types of cold salads containing pasta which is also a starch. Of course in every barbeque there must be hot dogs, sausage links, and hamburgers at the very least. These fatty foods aren’t healthy to consume often anyway but once you add all the toppings and buns these can go from bad to worse. Any very heavy foods aren’t good because fats take longer to break down which in return slows down your body’s processes in addition to the heat and dry air from humidity. Contrary to popular beliefs, you shouldn’t grab a tall glass of sweetened ice tea or lemonade whenever you’re feeling parched in the summer time. A glass every now and again is fine but just like sodas, usually what you’re trying to avoid drinking when drinking lemonade or tea, it contains sugar which is a lot of unnecessary calories that you probably thought you were avoiding.

Hot Summer Day Food

The best sweet snack in hot weather like this is ripe fruit. Where I currently reside it is about 100° and in weather like this all you want to consume is something with ice in the name; ice cubes, ice cream, Icee, ice water, crushed ice flavored snowballs, etc. However, my mom had a trick for weather like this and consuming solid foods. When there was a week that had at least one really hot day she would go out and buy a ton of fruits. Majority of the fruits would be melons such as; watermelon, honey dew melon, cantaloupe because they contain a lot of juice. She would also buy apples, mangoes, and pomegranate. She would put them all in the fridge 2 days before the hot day and then on the day before, cut them all up into small cubes and put them in tuber ware to refrigerate overnight. The next day, the hot day, all day would eat all different combinations of fruit salad. The juices from the fruit kept us hydrated and cool while the fruit itself kept us fed and happy with very little effort. Not only was this a great snack but it’s certainly a healthier alternative to those other cool snacks I mentioned earlier like ice cream and snowballs. If you’re not necessarily a fan of some of the fruits my mom used you can always incorporate your own. Anything that produces a lot of juice is ideal but it can also be mixed with other fruits that don’t.

GrubHub: Every restaurant at the click of a Button

I think one of my most used websites when it comes to food, other than restaurants’ websites, is GrubHub. This website is seriously an invention from god. I’ll never forget the first time I found out about GrubHub. A friend and I had just gotten in from a night on the town in the Wrigley Ville neighborhood in Chicago and it was like 3am. I was so hungry and was craving something specific, Jalapeno poppers and tacos. Weird combination, so I’ve been told. I was at her place which was a neighborhood I wasn’t familiar with at all and she doesn’t eat past 8pm so she had no clue which restaurants would be open at 3am. She gave me her laptop and told me to go to GrubHub.com. I put in her address, looked for places that were open and delivered, then searched for jalapeno poppers and tacos on their menu. Luckily, there was one place about a mile away from her house that completely fit my criteria and said that they could have my order to me in 30 minutes. This food was like a life saver and I have been an advocate for GrubHub since that night. At GrubHub.com you can search by category such as fine dining or diner, by type of food such as Mexican Cuisine or Italian Food, or by a specific dish like I did with my jalapeno poppers and tacos. The site is very simple and quick. You don’t have to just search in your neighborhood, you can search for restaurants in an entire city if you wish. I believe it is an excellent tool for anyone who’s looking for a place to eat.

Heaven on Seven: The Windy City of New Orleans

Growing up in Chicago, one of my favorite past times was spending the day downtown. Walking the magnificent mile, shopping a little bit, take a trip to the top of the Sears Towers (as it was known back then), and after doing all of this working up an appetite and dining at one of the many amazing restaurants. For years I would go see a movie at the AMC in the 600 N. Michigan building and on the way up pass the vibrant, colorful, musical place called Heaven on Seven. At that age I had no idea what neither Mardi Gras nor New Orleans was. Three years ago I finally decided to check out this New Orleans, Mardi Gras themed restaurant and I have to eat there every time I’m in town since. I always eat at the one on Rush, which is the same one I used to pass on my way up the escalator to the theatre, because it truly gives off a feel like the one I had when I went to New Orleans during Mardi Gras. The restaurant, as a whole, receives a rating of 4 out of 5 for me. The theme is consistent, the food is delicious, the servers are nice, and even their alcoholic beverages are Mardi Gras themed. The only problem is that so of the bus boys speak little English because they’re native language is Creole. This restaurant is perfect for anyone who lives in or visits Chicago and likes to eat at a restaurant that isn’t like many other ones in the city. The crab cakes, catfish platter, soft shell crab and fried crawfish po’ boys, and crawfish etouffee are my favorite dishes. 

Cookie Dough: Good or Bad?

I have always been a “lick the spoon” type of person in the sense that I love dessert before and after they’re cooked. Or in cases like cake, I like it more in batter form than in cake form. I love brownies but it’s something about brownie batter ice cream that I just can’t resist. In the case of cookies, they are by far my favorite type of solid type of sweet; by solid I mean between cakes, pies, cookies, rice crispy bars, and everything else that falls as a sub-category to them. More than often I would go to make cookies and end up eating most of the dough before I could get them in the oven. However, recently when I have bought pre-made cookie dough there is a warning label on it that says you shouldn’t consume raw cookie dough. I don’t know why this is or where it came from but I’m pretty sure consuming raw cookie dough can’t be that dangerous seeing as pre-packaged cookie dough ice cream is being sold by many different companies, in many different stores across the world with no warning label on them. Also cookie dough is still being used as an ingredient at ice cream parlors such as Cold Stone Creamery and Dairy Queen, which means they must not see a danger in consuming it either. I thought that maybe it was just the brand of cookie dough I bought that time but recently I’ve noticed that Pillsbury and Toll House both have these labels on it.  I got nervous so I started searching for more established blogs on the topic. The first one I found was http://www.ireallylikefood.com/743744366/is-eating-raw-cookie-dough-really-that-bad-for-you/ which showed that she had the same concern as me. After reading her blog post and the comments it received I was reassured that it can’t be that bad. Check it out and see what conclusions you draw from them. As for me, after my reassurance I searched for more blogs on cookie dough and found these two amazing recipes I can’t wait to try at: http://www.the-baker-chick.com/2012/06/salted-caramel-cookie-dough-truffles.html and http://mykitchenadventures1.blogspot.com/2012/05/cookbook-reveiw-cookie-dough-lovers.html. ENJOY!

Blue Kitchen: Food blogging at another level

I recently found a blog by the name of “Blue Kitchen” where their motto is “Good Food, Great Stories I swear” written by Terry Boyd. I originally clicked on this blog because it was ranked as a top blog about food that was created by a writer from Chicago. In case you all didn’t know I am from Chicago, so I originally thought this was going to be a blog about the great places to eat there. Boy was I wrong! This blog gives of an eloquent fine dining feel from the moment you click on it. As you click throughout and read the titles of some of the posts you see that this writer covers all types of topics from; fine dining, to comfort food, to restaurants in states all across the country, to honoring chefs for holidays such as Father’s Day and Black History month. The author describes himself as an amateur chef and from the few post I read about some of his recipes, in comparison to any amateur chef I know, he’s just being humble. His blogs are so warm and written in narrative form, it’s almost like you’re hearing someone speak what you’re reading. After reading a post I realized I loved this blog more than I expected because he blogs once a week for the USA Character approved Blog. This was an honor for me because it was the best of both worlds for me, except for when I’m watching The Deadliest Catch; my TV is either on the Food Network or USA. Blue Kitchen’s blogs have an upscale element to it, but at the same time makes you feel like you’re having a conversation with your close friends and family.

My Love for Fruit Flavored Juice Drinks

There is a difference between fruit juice and fruit flavored juice drink. Fruit juices are those that are actually made from the fruits themselves such as apple, orange, grape, pineapple, grapefruit, and lemon juices. In my previous blog I talked about my favorite fruit juices. It’s only fair that I tell you guys about my favorite fruit flavored juice drinks as well.  These drinks are those that are juices that are flavored to taste like the fruits but are not created from the juices of the fruits themselves. My favorite brand of juice in general, fruit or fruit flavored, that has been my favorite for as long as I can remember is Juicy Juice. I love all their flavors but my top three by far are; Strawberry Kiwi, Cherry, and Berry Blast. This juice is not only delicious but it had the perfect consistency. With fruit juices you often come in contact with pulp or a thick consistency and with cheap fruit flavored drinks than can either be syrupy or really thin like water. I have recently tried the brisk juices and I love the strawberry, melon, kiwi flavored juice. I haven’t tried their other juices but their lemon tea is pretty good too. I love Capri suns as well. The cherry flavored and pacific cooler kinds are my favorites. Going back to my childhood days there were these juices that referred to as quarter juices but the proper name for them would be Hug Juice Barrels. We called them quarter juices because they were sold at the stores for 25¢.

My Love for Fruit Juices

This blog is all about fruit juice. I am a very big juice drinker because I don’t drink pop or other carbonated drinks but I like something more flavorful than water sometimes. The only carbonated drink I will drink on a regular is flavored water. I seriously have a thing for juice, but I can’t really explain where it came from, seeing as my parents have never been big juice drinkers. They would buy orange juice on occasion or whenever I was sick but that was about it. The year before I came to college they started a new fasting routine during lent that would have them only consuming liquids for 2 weeks. During this time they would buy a lot of juice, but my love for juice developed when I was a child. My favorite juice fruit juice for years was grape juice; all brands I’ve tasted were satisfying. I’ve recently found a new love for Simply Orange Juice. Before I would drink any kind of orange juice, until one day I tried the Simply brand and fell in love with it. Now other orange juices can’t compare. I also prefer the Indian Summer Apple Juice. It has the right balance of sweet and apple that I love. Motts use to be my favorite until I tasted Indian summer and realized that Motts was a little too sweet for my liking. I must admit that currently my favorite fruit juice is the Mighty Mango Naked juice. It is absolutely delicious, tastes just like you’re eating a mango. 

The Hassle of using an in-home grill

I previously wrote a post on the hassles of cooking meat, but there's one hassle that tend to bother more than the others mentioned in my previous post which can be checked out here. This blog addresses all the typical issues I have come in contact with when trying to meats. However, I have come in contact with having trouble cooking on my George Foreman Grill more than once which I didn't mention in that blog. I originally bought it because it is known to be a healthier faster way to cook your food. Because there are grills pressing on the top and bottom of the food, it supposedly cooks through faster without the need to flip your food. I say supposedly because in every one of my experiences that has not been the case. Unfortunately for me, when I cook meats on mine the top and bottom and center cook through as the product is suppose to. However, the sides of my meats are rarely as cooked through, if cooked at all, as the other parts of the meat. When this happens, cooking with the grill becomes a hassle because I have to use a utensil, open the grill and physically hold the meats on its sides to cook them. After a couple of times I realized that placing the meats on the railing provided on the back end and sides of the grill will cook those sides with the other parts of the meats. However, there is not a railing at the front end of the grill, therefore, that side of the meat would still go uncooked. Because of this, there will still be at least one flip, or turn of the meat in order to cook it completely.

Food Lover's Dream Unite- The Business

Check out my website http://foodloversdreamsunite.webs.com/ . This business is also about the Love for food and the people who share that love.  We’re a laid back business run by people that are food lovers just like you. We offer forums for our viewers and customers to not only listen to our stories, opinions, and experiences but to other food lovers that are a part of the site as well. We try to get you thinking about food from the moment you enter our site. We update pictures which more than often coincide with the topics we talk about on this blog. Although our website is about food lovers we do not turn away anyone that has complaints or a dislike for food. The overall purpose of this website is food, good and bad. We actually hope that someone posts a complaint or dislike for certain food; this more than often stirs up more responses either from people who agree or disagree with the posts. We offer friendly discussions not debates, so will do not believe in a hostile environment. We closely monitor our forums and blog comments to catch any spam or posts that are ruining the environment of the business. We are free website, in the sense that, we do not charge a subscription fee in order to use our amenities. We do offer a page for donations for you food lover’s who want to share us with others by providing funding for expansion. Overall, we are a new business which still has some kinks to work out but we are on the right path and a business here to provide help with your food loving needs.

My Favorites

This blog is all about my favorites. I’ve posted several times now about my love for food but haven’t told you which ones I love the most:

My Top Five Favorite food categories (in order):

1        Seafood

2        Mexican Cuisince

3        Soul Food

4        Junk/Comfort Food

5        Salads

My Top 10 foods in each category (in order):

Seafood

1        Snow Crab Legs

2        Alaskan Red King Crab Legs

3        Shrimp

4        Sushi

5        Catfish

6        Calms

7         Mussels

.           Oysters

9         Crawfish

1       Lobster

Mexican Cuisine

1        Steak Tamales

2        Quesadillas

3        Refried Beans

4        Spanish Rice

5        Queso Blanca

6        Burritos

7        Tacos

8        Guacamole

9        Nachos

1      Flan

Soul Food

1        Spicy Fried Chicken

2        Collard Greens

3        Cornbread

4        Candied Yams

5        Deep Fried Turkey

6        Black eye peas

7        Green beans/ String Beans

8        Pig Ears

9        Smoked Turkey Tails

1      Ham Hocks

Junk/Comfort Food

1        Flamin Hot Cheetos

2        Cheetos

3        Chili Cheese flavored Fritos

4        Sour Pickles

5        White Cheddar Popcorn

6        Ham and Cheddar Lunchables

7        Caramel Apples

8        Oreos

9        Malts

1      Ice Cream

Salads

1        Southwestern Chicken

2        Chicken Ceasar

3        Cranberry Walnut

4        Italian

5        Cole Slaw

6        Chef Salad

7        Cobb Salad

8        Fruit Salad

9        Garden Salad

1     Greek Salad ( Minus the olives)

Weird combinations of favorite types of food I know, but I’ve never really been typical when it comes to my tastes in food. I’ve always had an outrageous love for seafood. My family thinks this comes from the fact that it’s all my mom craved and would eat when she was pregnant, I just think I appreciate great tastes.

Hassles of cooking meat

One of the hardest issues I come in contact with when cooking is finding the right method to cook main part of the meal, the meat. There are so many things that go into making this decision with each meat. For example, when making a delicate fish such as salmon or tilapia you want it to be able to absorb all the flavors is being surrounded by as if you were cooking it stove-top but you don’t want to take the change of it sticking to the skillet and breaking. Or with steak, obviously amazing on the grill but you don’t want to fire up the grill every time you’re craving steak. Cooking it stove- top increases the risk of uneven cooking and cooking it in the oven raises the risk of overcooking it.  Or meats such as roast that take a lot of time to cook but time you don’t necessarily want to spend watching the food. Cooking it stove top is impossible unless you have about 4-5 hours of very little to do so that you can stay in the house while you’re stove is on cooking it. The ideal way of cooking these meats with longer cooking times, that are great boiled, is in a slow cooker, but not everyone owns a slow cooker. I personally have found myself at a constant struggle when trying to find the best cooking method for country style ribs. I’ve tried broiling, boiling, and pan searing it. My best results, as far as tenderness, was broiling, however, all the seasonings I used ended up in the juices and made a great gravy but the meat was pretty bland.

Vegetables

Everyday meals for me consist of a meat and a starch. I know not the healthiest meal without any vegetables, but it’s a habit that I picked up from my mom. It’s not that I don’t like vegetables, it’s just that I never ate them so I never saw them being made and getting a recipe online is more of a hassle than I want to deal with while trying to cook. If my mom would have made vegetable consistently throughout my life, not only would it be second nature to cook them with my every day dinner along with the meats and starches, but I would also know delicious and creative ways to prepare them. I love broccoli, however, I can never find a good simple recipe for great fresh broccoli. The ones I find always includes an extensive lists of herbs that you average college student would never use in their cooking. Not only that but they give very vague instructions that tells you what ingredients you need and the method for cooking it, but never any details, like what type of utensil to cook it in or an exact time instead of a broad time range like, 20-35 minutes or until… which tells you very little about how to actually cook it. This business and blog are created with hopes of eliminating this exact problem, or at least reducing it. I tried working with broccoli on my own and found that is you boil them first then season them lightly later you will get an amazing broccoli side dish. For example, I like my broccoli crunchy so I boil it for 15 minutes in 2 cups of water for each bushel of broccoli. Once they’re cooked I drain the water and lightly season it with about a tablespoon of garlic powder. Delicious!

Sushi

When I was younger sushi was one of those things that I didn't know much about but knew I didn't like it. The idea of eating anything raw was already too much to imagine but eating something that was as smelly as fish raw was completely unthinkable. In high school I met some friends who loved sushi and introduced me to the pre-packaged sushi you can find at many grocery stores today. They usually came in about 6 pieces and I would like 4 of them. Finally I decided to try some fresh sushi and went to a sushi bar not too far from my high school. I ordered a simple California roll because that’s the roll I tried in the pre-packaged sushi. It was absolutely delicious and this made me want to try different rolls on this extensive list the sushi bar had. Throughout my senior year of high school I went back to the sushi bar and figured out that I really like rolls with eel, which are typically cooked. Which was a surprise to me because I thought all sushi was raw fish. Once I came to college I noticed there were several places that had sushi bars in my area, so I’ve been going to them over the years looking for the best sushi and the best deals. While going to these sushi bars, I learned that sushi can be deep fried which was completely mind blowing. Ironically the deep fried sushi is my least favorite. My journey with sushi has been one of growth and appreciation. Now I have a love for sushi and a level of respect from sushi chefs that I never guessed would’ve existed.

Simple food's Big Flavors

One of my favorite types of foods, are those that seem so simple but are exploding with flavor, for example, southwestern spring rolls or southwestern salads. They’re nothing but chicken, cheese, corn, and a little seasoning but that combination of foods is one that creates a lot of flavor! Jewel Osco sells these great pre-made salads that contain 2-3 other ingredients other than lettuce and dressing. None of the ingredients are large portions and the salads are all less than 300 calories. When you mix these small portions of all the ingredients together the salad is anything but boring. For example, they have a southwestern salad with a small portion of corn, a blend of cheese, and some seasoned chicken and I can eat one every day. Another one of their salads has cranberries, walnuts, and the flat bread pieces and with the dressing it is delicious and only 220 calories, not to mention its filling! Another thing that I like that’s pretty simple is dumplings or gnocchi. They are just simply balls of dough but if you boil them in some delicious broth or soup they are so delicious and the perfect simple flavorful side dish. Usually when I make my dumplings, if I’m not actually making chicken and dumplings, I’ll use a can of condensed cream of chicken soup with some chicken broth and cook the dumplings in that. They absorb the chicken flavor so well and only take about 15 minutes to cook. That way you get the chicken and dumplings feel without going through the hassles of prepping the chicken and spending so much time trying to cook it.

Fast Foods

Have you ever really craved food from a fast food restaurant and then you get it and it’s a huge disappointment. I never understood why some restaurants just can't grasp the concept of fast and fresh. Other than Jimmy John’s there is not a place that serves me fast and fresh food every time. I was craving a fast food burger today, once I finally got it the patty wasn’t fresh, the buns weren't fresh, the toppings, the little they gave me weren’t fresh. Needless to say, it was a complete disappointment. I usually try to avoid fast food restaurants because it’s a lot of calories of terrible quality. Not only did this restaurant ruin the burger for me but after I left there I realized I didn’t get any fries and went to another fast food restaurant to get my fries. I specifically ordered fresh fries and they weren’t fresh by any means. With the luck I had today, my choice to restrain from fast food was reassured. This experience is one of many and it’s sad that we have very little choices when wanting to get something quick and quality. People want to eat more than just sandwiches when they go to a restaurant that serves food fast. However, in today’s day and age finding some good greasy food for your guilty pleasure it’s going to be a hard find. My suggestion is to go to Jimmy John’s or Subway if you want to eat fresh and not have to wait.

My Food for today.

It is a High of 90 degrees today where I live. On super hot days like this the last thing I want to do is add more heat to the equation by using a stove or an oven. Today is all about cold food and microwave and toaster ovens. Normally on Saturday morning I get up and cook a whole breakfast, Bacon, Eggs, Pancakes, Oatmeal etc., but because of the heat, today I had some nice chilled apple slices, a chilled mango, and some cereal with cold milk. Good ideas for snacks in hot weather like this are things like Lunchables or crackers and cream cheese. When I was younger my mom would buy Hoagie Loaves, buy several different lunch meats (ham, turkey, roast beef etc.), and several different types of cheeses (American, Cheddar, Swiss, Provolone), and the pre-made herb sandwich vinaigrette, along with all other sandwich toppings and set up a little sandwich making counter for our lunches. This is a great way to not only customize a great meal, but you’re saving money because you don’t need to use your stove. This is a great Idea for lunch or dinner and it feeds a lot of people for little money. For dinner another nice cool meal that I tend to enjoy is a salad. I like customizable meals, if you can’t tell and salads allow me to do so much to it. I can rarely eat a salad without chicken in it which can present a problem when trying not to use your stove. However, Oscar Meyer makes these pre-cooked Deli Fresh Chicken Breast Slices that come in several different seasonings and are refrigerated not frozen so you can toss them right in your salad, no preparation needed. 

My Love for food

My experience with food is a unique one, in the sense that, food is more than just nourishment for me. I may not eat everything but over the years I have come to eat some “not so typical” things. Food to me is an adventure because there are so many things you can explore and discover about each piece of food that exists. Discover new ways to cook it, which spices are best with it, how to transform it from its natural state, what to cook with it, which ways to highlight its natural flavors; are all things I love to consider when I think about food. Not only that, but for myself, it’s like a good math problem (yes I like math), there are different components to the formula that you have to figure out then there’s different functions you must perform to those components, and finally you must find the correct combination of everything to get the correct answer. While this is a lot of work, once you get the correct solution the accomplishment is more than rewarding. In this case the actual food (meat, starch, vegetable, etc.) is the components, and find the right combination of foods that blend well together is the first task. Then, finding the right seasonings for the food components and the right form of cooking it, which would be the functions, is the second step to this math problem. Finally, cooking it for the correct amount of time and using any garnish or topping to top off the dish is the final step. Once you taste the delicious creation you have made the result is not only satisfying but also gratifying.