Mr. Lesley Cooks

Meatless Wonder

 

 

We have been at an art extravaganza in the wilds of Scarsdale, New York hosted by the dynamic duo of Sal and Ellen (http://www.art-is-you.com).  

 

Although Lesley was there for the art, I particularly enjoyed Jean’s bodacious breakfast (including homemade challah), Sal’s spinach and cheese ravioli, and Pamela’s almond shortbread.

 

Not to say we were tired when we got in, but bedtime yesterday was at 7:09 PM and I slept until 7AM today.

 

I tried a new variation of Cajun Cabbage while we were away, this time with no meat. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cajun Vegan Cabbage

 

 

 

1 large head cabbage, coarse outer leaves, core, and ribs removed, cut into 1-inch dice

2 green and one red bell peppers, chopped

3 thinly sliced medium yellow onions

3 ribs celery, chopped

2 tablespoons olive oil

4 cloves garlic, minced

Kosher salt

Freshly ground black and white pepper

Dried red pepper flakes

 

Saute the onions, bell peppers, celery and sage, in olive oil with salt until the veggies are wilted but not browned, about 10 minutes. Add the garlic, cook until you start to smell it, then add the cabbage, salt again, and cook for 10-60 more minutes, or until done the way you like it. Season with salt and peppers and serve.

A Great Energy Source

This is a good starting point for making refried beans.  Be creative and adventurous and modify to make your own version.  It is best to wear a shirt like this when you eat them.

 

 

 

 

Refried Beans

 

 

1 lb dried pinto beans

1 lb pork fatback

4 onions, chopped

3 stalks celery, chopped

3 carrots, chopped

2 bay leaves

2 tablespoons chili powder

1 teaspoon ground cumin

4 cloves garlic, minced

1/2 cup lard

1 fresh jalapeno, seeded, minced (optional)

Salt and pepper to taste

 

 

Soak pintos overnight in 6-8 cups water.  A shortcut is to pour boiling water over the pintos, simmer them for 2 minutes, cut off heat, cover and let stand for an hour.

 

Drain pintos and put in a 4 quart pot.  Cover with 1-2 inches of water.  Add fatback, celery, carrots, bay leaves, and 2 of the onions.  Bring to a boil and simmer for 2-3 hours, until beans are tender.  Drain and set aside, saving the cooking liquid.  Remove the bay leaves and fatback.

 

Melt the lard in a 12” sauté pan or skillet.  Over medium high heat, sauté the onions until tender, but not browned.  Add garlic, chili powder and ground cumin along with the jalapeno if using.

 

Cook for 30 seconds.  Add the beans, a ladleful at a time, making sure each ladleful is good and mashed before adding more.  You can use a stick blender for this as well.  Add bean cooking liquid until bean mixture is a little more liquid than you want, since it will thicken up.  Correct seasonings. 

 

The Doughnut Fix

We just happened to be out driving last night (at least that's our story) when this sign in the Krispy Kreme window caught our eye.

Taking this as a sign, we just had to stop.  It just seemed like the right thing to do that since there were two of us, and we had our two dogs with us, and there were two cats at home, that we must get two dozen doughnuts.

There are none left this morning...doughnuts, that is.  All the other twos are still ok.

Here's a big tip for you all. 

In case a couple dozen doughnuts should fall into your lap....and you should just by some unlikely coincidence maybe before you could finish all the doughnuts, fall asleep from say, too much sugar, or something like that...and there may be a few doughnuts left over the next morning...and you are looking for a healthy breakfast......

Just melt some butter, or a lot of butter, in a nonstick skillet and fry the leftover doughnuts a minute or two on each side.

Now this is good for several reasons.  It is economical to use food that might otherwise be wasted.  Think of the poor starving children in India that they used to tell me about when I wouldn't eat as a child.  They want you to eat up!!!

Here's another biggie:  it's all natural.  The doughnuts were originally fried in natural no trans fat oil.  The butter is also 100% natural, so is the sugar and flour and there must be some natural milk or water and eggs in there, too.

You have to use a kind of health point of view to fully comprehend the best reason of all.  Through a process that is not completely understood by food scientists, the combination of the oil and butter magically and mysteriously cancels out every carbohydrate....and...there is something in the flour and sugar combo that equally miraculously takes out all the fat.

So what you are left with is a fat free, carb free, nutritious breakfast.  And it tastes pretty good, too.

Is this a great way to start a day or what?

Anyone want to buy a bridge in Brooklyn?
 

I Cook Up A Plan

It's been awhile since I have posted anything here.  But today I came up with this idea I just had to share.  This isn't a recipe for cooking, but for....well, you all will see.

We got into a dispute with the folks who have been cutting our grass and I got this lunatic idea that I would just do it myself from now on.  This must have been temporary insanity...hopefully just temporary.

My friend Paul came over yesterday and, to my regret, he got our old lawnmower going again.  So this afternoon, there I was, out in the lawn.  As I was mowing, I got to thinking about Bonnie and Clyde...the part of the movie where Clyde accidentally cut off some of his toes so he wouldn't have to work.

Hmmmm, you know I have 10 toes...and I don't expect I really need all of them....so...

I was trying to decide how many of my nether digits I would have to sacrifice.  I tried turning this phrase over in my old punkin head:  "A poor old man with only ? toes surely doesn't have to cut the grass."  I immediately realized that this was really a problem in algebra...you know one of those word problems.  "?" was really just my old friend "X".  All I had to do was to figure out what "X" was.  I knew it had to be a number between zero and ten.  I wanted it to be right close to ten, but I wanted to make sure that my idea worked, too.  

I also realized that surely a poor old man with only X toes would also not have to do any housework or much of anything other than hold down the sofa in front of the TV.

Unfortunately, I ran out of lawn before I solved the equation.  I reckon I will have to wait for the grass to get higher before I figure it out.

As I was putting the lawnmower away, another phrase came to my mind.  "A poor old man with only X toes couldn't be expected to help with art, either."  I'm practicing my limp.