Omni's semi-recipes

tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6272246.post-46492423111157261502007-04-24T00:32:00.000-07:002007-05-21T17:02:36.226-07:00Omni's semi-recipesI can't just call them "recipes" because they're only partial ideas about how food can be put together to taste good; I don't cook, but as a supertaster (see my post of 3-5-04) trying to find ways to eat in a culinary landscape designed for tasters and non-tasters I've given alot of thought to food and how it can be combined in palatable, convenient ways, and this is what I've come up with: 1) The glory of Monterey jack, especially pepper jack (which is just a LITTLE hot, so don't be afraid to try it): a) Mozzarella goes bad quickly, and isn't actually that good; instead, use jack cheese, which looks the same, has the same consistency, but lasts longer and tastes MUCH better, on Italian dishes (including pizza). b) Instead of using only cheddar cheese with Mexican dishes (how did we Americans get used to doing that-it's not like this British cheese is authentic on Mexican food), omelettes, mashed potatoes, etc, mix it with jack; the latter is far lower in fat and calories, doesn't separate its oil out so easily, and adds a great deal of flavor, especially if you use pepper jack... it's one of the rare occasions where reducing fat and calories IMPROVES flavor. 2) Sourdough makes it better: Sourdough isn't only for the rolls in fine restaurants and the occasional Jack in the Box burger; in addition to being just plain tastier than white bread, the tanginess of it adds another dimension of flavor to whatever you're eating it with, which makes food more satisfying... and even by itself, with real butter (the trans fats in margarine are deadly), the sweet/sour combo is so good that you can nearly make a meal out of it. I keep hoping for the return of sourdough rye, and sourdough dill rye, which starred in the best sandwiches of my childhood; if you can get these breads where you live, try some and see what I mean. I also hope that eventually some entrepreneurial type will make a sourdough crust for pizza; if they also substitute pepper jack for mozzarella, they'll have made the ultimate version of my favorite food. 3) WTF is nutmeg, anyway? If you've got that ancient bottle of nutmeg that only gets used as a garnish for eggnog, toss it out and use cinnamon instead; it has a nicer color, smells better, and is utterly delicious. 4) Sprouts aren't just a relic of the 70's; they're the fastest way to get some green stuff into a sandwich, pitas, tacos, etc, because they don't need to be cut or shredded. Even better, if you can find radish or daikon sprouts (a daikon is a root veggie that tastes like a mild radish), they've got that sharp radish-y taste to them, and are REALLY good with more strongly seasoned foods... I even put them on my Montague's All-Meat Marvel pizza. 5) And speaking of the 70's: Remember yogurt and granola? Now that they've discovered that over 70% of our immune system's in our digestive tract (who'd have guessed it-I'd have thought 0%, wouldn't you?), it's time to start eating the only thing known to directly enhance the intestinal flora... active cultures, found in yogurt and yogurt-ish drinks (there's also cultured soy stuff, but I wouldn't feed that to a dog). Make sure the carton says CONTAINS active cultures, not "made with," as the latter doesn't mean that any of the cultures are still alive and the former does. Unless you want to ingest as much fat and calories as if you'd had ice cream, go for nonfat yogurt, and get plain to avoid having a cup of sugar in it; granola's sweet (Quaker Valley 100% Natural's still the best), and the tartness of plain yogurt goes well with it. To greatly increase the fiber and nutrition of the grain part of the mix, go to Whole Foods and get that other 70's favorite, wheat germ, and also some bran (in its natural form of little flakes, not a yucky cereal containing it); you can use lots of wheat germ, which tastes pretty good, but go easy on the bran, which is sort of like eating cardboard but which is unnoticeable in small amounts. Add some fresh fruit and you've got your nutritional bases covered. You don't have to save this for breakfast; we use it as a dinner once a week, and it'll be extra-good when it gets too hot to cook in a few months. 6) Glop: This is the closest thing I have to an actual recipe; it's what my husband and I call the dessert I came up with for us to have on special occasions. Unlike most folks, I HATE pie crust, and don't get too excited by cakes, so I combined the things I DO like into something that's not only delicious but fun, and allows each eater to personalize it to their own preferences: canned pie filling (usually light cherry for me and tart cherries for my husband), mountains of whipped cream (Cool Whip Extra Creamy is the best), and walnuts or pecans. My husband adds chocolate syrup to his, and if we've got shredded coconut that's awesome too. On alternating occasions, we have the glop on angel food cake; I'm betting that pound cake would be good too, but no one makes it fresh around here. And that's all there is to it; no baking, no measuring, no preparation, just open up the containers and let people glop it onto their plates... hence the name. Bon appetit!!<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/6272246-4649242311115726150?l=omniverse.blogspot.com'/></div>Omnihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01535142570254270177noreply@blogger.com