Food – Page 39 – Simply Norma

Los Andes Restaurant

On a recent search for a new Mexican restaurant, we came across Los Andes Restaurant which is a Columbian and Ecuadorian restaurant near downtown Minneapolis.

There were many locals already seated when my family and I arrived.

One of my favorite foods was on the menu, maduros, which are ripe yellow fried plantains. Instead of slicing them in smaller pieces, this restaurant cut the plantain in half, fried it and then served it so it looked almost like a whole plantain.

In Puerto Rico, the plantain, both the green and the ripe yellow, is served at all restaurants and at dinner time (most of the time).

Another item I was familiar with is the drink called Malta. This is a barley drink that I enjoy on an infrequent occasion mainly because I don’t want to get sick of it. The one they served at Los Andes tasted a little bit different than the one I’m used to — it was less sweet. My mother normally has these on hand when I visit her. Some say the barley taste is acquired from when one is young but I know older people who have tried it and liked it.

We ordered the corn cakes with cheese as an appetizer and were not disappointed. They were very tasty.

The steak at Los Andes was tender which surprised me as most of the time when I order a steak at a Latin/Hispanic restaurant I have been disappointed as they are normally tough or dry to eat.

The service was good and the people were friendly. Portion sizes were huge! Next time we go I think we’ll order one entree and share it.

Want to know what the most interesting item on the menu was? Roasted guinea pig. I had never seen it served anywhere before and the menu said you need to order it ahead of time because of the time needed to cook it. No worries. I never would even consider trying it. For some reason it disgusts me just to even think about it. But, that’s me.

So, if you’re looking for a new restaurant to try, you might want to go to Los Andes. Make sure you go hungry as you’ll have enough food to fill you for a couple of meals.

First Barbecue

We’ve been fortunate to have our son visiting us for awhile and recently he organized and cooked the first barbecue of the season for us.

Yummy stuff! Â Homemade baked beans, macaroni and cheese, cole slaw, corn bread and grilled chicken. Yes, he made everything from scratch as that’s how he likes to cook.

It’s a blessing to have someone cook for you while they visit.

Limber de Coco

A favorite dessert of mine growing up in Chicago was a very simple dessert my mother would make called limber. I don’t think I know a Puerto Rican family who has not made it. It can be as sweet or non-sweet as you like.

Since we were poor, my mother would make these in ice cube trays instead of popsicle molds. She always used whatever we had around the house.

Here’s my mother’s recipe. We loved it whether the weather was cold or hot outside.

Ingredients:

1 can of Cream of Coconut
1 can of water
1 can of milk (I used skim and it came out fine)
2 ice cream scoops of suger (or 1/4 cup) but taste it and adjust according to your taste

Directions:

Mix all the ingredients together in a large bowl
Pour the mixture into ice cube trays or popsicle molds
Put the ice cube trays in the freezer and wait until it’s frozen
Serve!

This can’t be any easier and since every time I go visit my mother she gives me a can or two of coconut cream, I have something to look forward to.

Ingredients for LImber de Coco — Ingredients for Limber de Coco

Or …

Put in the freezer then serve!

I love coconut so this is the perfect dessert for me!

Hope you enjoy it.

Cracker Barrel

A recent trip back to Minnesota from Chicago had my family and I stopping in Janesville, Wisconsin for a late lunch/early dinner. The Cracker Barrel Restaurant sign could be seen while driving on the highway and as I had never been there and my son raved about it, we decided to stop.

Upon entering, there is a country-style store that has lots of neat items to buy. From Amish looking (and inexpensive) quilts to homemade jam and fudge, I made sure I browsed after we had lunch.

A sign that said “Hostess” was above an area where a young man waited to show us where to sit.

The restaurant itself is decorated with country items.

One of the items that I hadn’t seen in awhile sat on each table of the restaurant — do you remember playing this game when you were a kid?

The purpose of this game is to keep you occupied while waiting for your food. It served it’s purpose well. There is one hole that is empty and has no peg in it. You “jump” the other pegs and try to get rid of as many pegs as possible. If you only have one peg left then you’re a genius! Unfortunately, I was not a genius on this trip.

The personality of the waitress was neutral as she was neither friendly nor unfriendly but simply business-like. Our orders were taken and served to us quickly. I had the Blueberry Maine Pancakes and they were absolutely delicious. They came with a small bottle of blueberry syrup. I would highly recommend these pancakes as they were so moist and had real blueberries in them.

The two other entrees that my family tried were the Chicken and the Meatloaf. Both were good although the honey corn muffins weren’t as good as others we’ve had at other restaurants.

I thought it was quaint to see this table set up for someone to sit and play checkers at.

Cracker Barrel, Chess Table — Cracker Barrel, Checkers Table

I think we’ll have to stop here again on the way to/from the Chicago area. Good food!

McCormick & Schmicks

On a recent trip to Minneapolis to see the Minnesota Orchestra, we had dinner at McCormick & Schmicks. The restaurant is an easy walk from the Orchestra Hall, we got seated immediately and the food was good.

When you first enter the restaurant, the doors you enter look quite impressive with the leaded glass. You might think that you need to dress up but lots of people were in jeans.

It is a bit noisy though. I’m not sure if it’s because the ceilings are high and the noise bounces back to the floor but if you’re looking for a quiet romantic evening this probably isn’t the place to go to. Although — they do have rooms that close with curtains so perhaps those rooms would be more intimate.

My husband had the Palm Beach Mahi Mahi that came with crab potato hash and sweet corn bisque. He said it was “pretty good.”

I decided to try the Salmon over Pasta that came with a Spinach & Vegetable Orzo and Sundried Tomato Pesto. It was okay. The orzo was greasy and the salmon didn’t taste any better than the one I had made at home that week.

It wasn’t bad but I guess my expectation was that it should taste better than what I make at home. Is that an unrealistic expectation?

Overall, the dinner was good and its a good place to eat before heading to a concert.

The Popcorn Dilemma

It’s pretty weird to have a popcorn dilemma but that’s exactly what I was having. Perhaps my brain wasn’t working as well as it should but I just couldn’t figure out what was going on and was ready to call or email the Jolly Time company for help.

And so it was around the noontime hour that I again placed an individual sized bag of Jolly Time popcorn in the microwave with the same results — a burned bag, burnt popcorn and lots of unpopped kernels.

It wouldn’t have been so irritating to me except that I had made this my routine lunch — popcorn, a few nuts and a fruit drink. Well, okay — I can already see the irony in all this — nutty and fruity. Â (laughing)

I thought perhaps the problem was popping the kernels too long so I used varying times all to no avail. Having gone through a couple of boxes of popcorn now, I decided to wait a day or two to allow myself time to become less irritated.

By the second day I noticed the problem. Could it be?

One of the unusual things I noticed when we moved into our house a year ago was that there was a metal rack in the microwave. Normally metal is not supposed to be used in a microwave but this one is specially made for this purpose. I had been setting my popcorn bag directly on the metal rack which was burning the bag, making a hole and thus burning the popcorn. The solution? Placing a small plate under the bag.

Unbelievable! After all the consternation the solution turned out to be quite simple.

Trivial? Not really. We all have little things in life that irritate us and sometimes we just need to put them off to the side, give ourselves “a moment,” and then return to (hopefully) see things in a new light.

I believe God allows us to hit our head on the post a few times before tapping us on the shoulder and saying “How about taking a break?” Miraculously a lot of solutions appear and the small and simple things in life resolve themselves in a more gentle manner.

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Lentil Yogurt Soup

My attempt to make an old favorite of mine, Lentil Spinach Soup, failed miserably due to the problem I had with the brown lentils turning purple. Since I don’t consider myself a chef, nor a basic chef for that matter, I was quite frustrated and wasn’t sure what to do since I had spinach and onions that I had chopped up for my soup that I felt I had to use.

I’m truly not sure what happened next as I normally have trouble cooking unless I have a recipe but a sudden sense of adventure surged up inside me. I took this surge in stride and went to the cupboard to see how I could salvage dinner without calling the pizza restaurant.

Inside the cupboard I found a large bag of unopened red split lentils. Hmmm, I wondered, are all lentils made the same? (The answer is no but I didn’t find that out until my cooking trial was over.)

This experimental soup was truly and my pulse quickened as I tried to figure out what I was doing not having ventured into the “try it and see” realm of cooking too often.

But I have to say — this soup was great!! I loved the texture and taste. My husband did not like the texture though. For me it felt so soft (can soup feel soft?) — I think the correct cooking term might be “velvety.” Well, try it. It had no hint of the lentils after I completed my experiment.

Ingredients

8 cups of water
2 bay leaves
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 garlic clove, minced
1 onion, chopped
1 tablespoon dried thyme
1 tablespoon dried basil
1 bag of spinach or 1 fresh bunch, chopped
4 medium red or Yukon potatoes, diced
2 cups of red lentils, rinsed
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
3/4 cup Greek yogurt

Directions

In a soup pot, add the water, red split lentils and the bay leaves then boil until the lentils are cooked — 20 to 30 minutes approximately
In a skillet, add the oil and heat until bubbly
Add the garlic to the oil and stir for a few seconds then add the onion and cook until they are translucent
Turn your skillet heat to low, add the thyme and basil then stir
In a medium sized pot, add the potatoes and water to just cover the potatoes. Allow the water to boil and cook the potatoes until a fork inserted in the middle of one of the diced cubes comes out soft then set this aside
In the skillet, add half of the chopped spinach and stir until it’s mixed in well with the onion mixture
Add the rest of the spinach and stir
Once the lentils are cooked, lower the heat then add the cooked potatoes (including the water) and add the onion-spinach mixture that’s in the skillet
Stir everything together and let it cook through for about 10 minutes
Add the red wine vinegar to the soup and cook another 5 minutes
When the soup is ready, taste and make sure the seasoning is to your liking, ie does it need more salt, thyme, basil? Let your palette be the judge. If you add more seasoning, allow a few minutes for them to cook through in the pot
Let the soup cool for 10-15 minutes
In a blender, add 1/4 of the soup and some of the yogurt then blend them together
Continue adding soup then yogurt until you have a smooth consistency

As you combine the soup with the yogurt in the blender, use a large bowl to pour the readied soup into.

Once all the soup and yogurt have been combined, transfer the soup back to the pot and serve.

It really was delicious so enjoy!

What I learned:

All lentils are not the same as the red split lentils cook quickly and can become mushy which is why I decided to blend the ingredients in a blender

Eggless Blueberry Muffins

I woke up one day wanting to making blueberry muffins. Ever have one of those days where you just have an urge for a particular food? It doesn’t happen very often to me, well, unless it’s chocolate. (laughing)

But, I had a problem. I had no eggs. I looked high and low in all of my recipe books and couldn’t find one recipe that did not include eggs. So, I started a search on the internet and found a good recipe. The muffins came out light and “soft.”

Ingredients

2 cups All Purpose Flour
1 and 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon lemon juice
3/4 cup sugar
1 cup of milk
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
1 cup frozen blueberries, unthawed

Directions

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees fahrenheit for 15 minutes
Lightly grease a muffin tin
In a medium bowl, combine the flour, baking soda and salt
In a large bowl, combine the sugar, milk, oil, lemon juice and vinegar then mix this all together
Add the dry ingredients to the wet ones and stir until it’s just combined — don’t over-stir or the muffins will come out tough instead of soft
Gently fold in the blueberries
Fill the muffin tin about 2/3 full of the batter
Bake until a wooden toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean (about 20 minutes but ovens vary so check after 15 minutes and make the necessary adjustments)
When done, remove from the oven, let the muffins cool for about 5 minutes then move the muffins to a rack to cool

The original recipe calls for unbleached flour but I don’t believe it matters. I also made the following adjustments from the original recipe:

Instead of using 2 lemons, I used already made lemon juice I bought at the store
I used vegetable oil instead of canola oil
I used apple cider vinegar instead of white vinegar
I halved the recipe and it came out fine (the recipe above is for 12 muffins)

This recipe (I hear) can alsoÂ be made with rice or soy milk if you want the recipe to be vegan. Â Enjoy!

(The original recipe can be found at Eggless Cooking.)

Lentil Disaster

Since the weather in Minnesota has decided to go back to what it should be (in the 40’s), I decided to make soup but not just any ordinary soup — lentil soup. Yum!

Unfortunately, as the picture above shows, the soup I was trying to make was not going to be successful — at least not following the recipe I was using. I don’t understand it as I’ve made this soup so many times and have never had any problems. The recipe said to put the lentils in 7 cups of water and add 2 bay leaves. That was not a problem.

I used water that was filtered through my Brita instead of tap water. And then, I let it boil and this is what I got …

Yeah, what happened? I really don’t know and continued to be baffled by it.

I decided to turn on the scientific side of my brain (which is pretty much non-existent) and determine the cause of this, uh, disaster. It has to be the water or the bay leaves, I reasoned, so I took a smaller pot, added filtered water from the refrigerator and the 2 bay leaves then let it boil.

Okay — the bay leaves boiling in the water are fine.

Then I added brown lentils. Oh dear! What is happening??

One last scientific experiment, I thought. I put filtered water in a pot and added red lentils instead of the brown ones and they boiled just fine.

I never knew that lentils could go bad. I can recall having a bag of lentils in my cupboard, opened or unopened, for a couple years and never having this problem. And I’ve never had to remove the lentils from the bag they came to store them in a container as I’ve read others have done.

A search on the internet revealed that there are various thoughts on whether lentils can go bad. One person said that you should use the lentils within 12 months although they shouldn’t go bad. Another person said that lentils last a lifetime. Have you ever had this experience?

These lentils didn’t last a lifetime. In fact, I’ve only had this bag of lentils for 6 months or so.

What happened to my lentil soup? Well, I wound up using red lentils and changing the recipe completely around using the basic lentil recipe but with a few changes. More on that later.

Thoughts anyone?

Rice with Cranberries, Walnuts and Dates

At first I thought this recipe might not taste good due to its combination of ingredients but I was wrong. The cranberries give it a nice sweet taste while the nuts make it crunchy which made it very palatable . Another good recipe from the book 1000 Vegan Recipes.

Ingredients

5 cups basmati rice, cooked and cooled
1 cup frozen baby peas, thawed
1/2 cup chopped toasted walnuts
1/2 cup sweetened dried cranberries
4 dates, finely chopped
2 green onions, finely minced
1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup cranberry juice
1.5 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
1/2 teaspoon sugar
Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Directions

In a large bowl, combine the rice, walnuts, cranberries, dates and green onions
In a small bowl, combine the cranberry juice, olive oil, balsamic vinegar and sugar
Pour the liquid mixture over the rice mixture a little at a time until it has the right consistency and taste for you
Season with the salt and pepper
Set the mixture aside for 30 minutes before serving to marinate the rice with the seasoning

That’s it! Pretty easy and tasty. I did make some changes to the original recipe as follows:

I used 5 cups of white rice instead of a combination of wild rice and basmati rice
I used dates instead of figs
I did not use all of the seasoning as I thought it would come out too liquidy

I liked this entree at room temperature which is what they recommend. Since we had leftovers, I had refrigerated the leftovers and microwaved them and they tasted fine a little warmer than room temperature. So — try it both ways to your liking. This is also simple enough to make ahead of time and then add the dressing right before you’re ready to serve it.

Rice Salad with Walnuts, Cranberries and Dates

Enjoy!

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