Food Budget Blessings Update

I was gonna title this post "What About Those Radishes" but that just sounded dodgy.  But, yeah, I wanted to talk about radishes, among other things.

I don't dislike radishes.  I enjoy the peppery bite that they have.  But somehow it seems an inconvenient vegetable, although I don't know why.  My folks almost never served radishes, so I guess I never really saw what radishes could do.  Apparently, radishes can do a lot.

In my radish research yesterday, I discovered that there are any number of ways of preparing them--other than the typical salad-style ways.  One of the favorites appears to be roasting, and I'll be trying that later today.  Here's the most common method:

Slice ends of radishes, removing root and greens. 

Quarter radishes. 

Toss with olive oil and sea salt. 

Roast on a baking sheet for 15 to 20 minutes at 375.

 

Since I like to roast lots of different veggies, this makes sense to me.  One account I read mentioned that the radishes would become bitter if overcooked--a good thing to know.

Before I even began my radish reading, I decided to make a few into Quickles just to see if that would work out.  And it did.  Really so good.  And the juice turned a very amusing bright pink.  So, how did I do this?  Here's my Quickle recipe:

 

1 cup thinly sliced cucumber (or radish as the case may be)

1/4 cup white vinegar

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon dill weed

1/4 teaspoon mustard seed

Add all together in a clean jar.  Put on the lid.  Shake it up.  Refrigerate.  Ready to eat in an hour.  Ten minutes if you're really hungry.

I've been meaning to try this with carrots.  I bet that would be really good, too.  If you eat all the Quickles fairly fast (believe me, they won't last long!), you can re-use the liquid to make another batch.

Although I still need to deal with the rest of the radishes, I have prepared most of the other veggies that I purchased yesterday.  And I froze more meals than I had thought I'd be able to (half a dozen servings of chili, half a dozen servings of pepper rings, and so on).  One of the nicest things is that the pepper rings turned out even better than expected because the peppers were in better shape than they originally appeared to be.

I had always stuffed peppers whole (not very satisfactory frozen and often a larger serving than I really wanted) and I never knew there was any other way until I watched a Japanese TV show called Aiba Manabu last year.  Aiba stuffed pepper rings with a combination of rice and chopped fish; then pan-fried them.  It looked so good (despite the fact that I don't eat fish--serious vegetarian, me) that I had to try.  The results were astoundingly good.  The stuffed pepper rings froze beautifully, de-frosted easily, and cooked up nicely in perfect serving size.  So, of course, I will do this again and again and again.  Here's what I did yesterday--no measurements because I was just busy cooking like a madwoman, and I was using what I had on hand.

Mix rice and cooked veggies (I had goldfish rice already prepared) with pureed beans and a little bean liquid to help bind the ingredients (I had pinto beans cooked for making chili).  Add some whole beans to the mix.  Stir together.  Fill bell pepper rings.  Add a thin coating of bread crumbs to both sides of the stuffed pepper rings.  Freeze to have for meals later.  Or, if you're hungry now, pan-fry in a bit of butter until browned nicely on both sides, turning carefully.

When I freeze the rings, I put waxed paper in between to make it easier to take individual rings out of the container.  (Probably your mama taught you common sense stuff like that but mine sure didn't--it's all new to me.  Despite her great talent at cooking, my mother despised the kitchen, refused to teach me to cook, and never made any effort at freezing prepared meals.)

I also made Salad Soup yesterday but I've talked about that so many times that I won't bother sharing the recipe again.  (It's easy and satisfying and there's no wasting of all that extra lettuce.)  But I will tell you what I'm gonna do with the potato peels that were left when I prepared the soup:  Crispy Potato Peel Treats! 

Clean potatoes well before paring.  Use the potato for whatever purpose and reserve the peel.  Place peelings in a bowl of water.  Cover and refrigerate overnight.  Drain.  Slice potato peel into very thin strips.  Toss with melted butter and seasoning of your choice.  (I like Twin Tree Gardens Soul Food Seasoning or Louisiana Cajun Seasoning but even garlic salt or onion salt would do.)  Spread on a baking sheet in a single layer.  Bake in a preheated 425 degree oven for 10 minutes.  Stir.  Return to the oven for 2 to 5 minutes until crispy.  Watch carefully to avoid burning. 

And enjoy.  I like dipping them in Ranch Dressing but ketchup will do.  Or I'll just eat them plain.

Anyway, that's what I've been up to.  And there's more to be done.  The kitchen was a disaster last night, and I still have another load to fill the dishwasher.  Cleaning up never was my favorite part of the job.

You know, I'm not a great cook like my mother and I can't even pretend to be.  I'm just a person messing about casually in the kitchen, sometimes under pressure (like when I have to cook odd stuff on the spur of the moment in the interest of saving pennies where I can).  But it can still be an enjoyable creative endeavor.  It's fun to make something new.  And it's nice to share, even if my methods are too simple and my ideas are nothing new. 

Life is good.
Really.
I'm gonna go cook potato peels!