Sick-o

ARGH! I woke up sick; I hate being sick. Pounding head, sore throat, runny nose, the works. I dragged myself out of bed, showered, dressed and went into work, very unamused; my coworkers were equally displeased. Working in public relations and a cancer hospital does not lend itself to a winter cold. The public don’t really enjoy relating with someone sneezing and coughing in their ear and cancer patients have dangerously low immune systems that we all decided it was best to send me home early, with pay, of course. So now I’m home, sick, and I haven’t eaten all day, nothing left to do but make chicken soup. This soup is made out of the cheapest, yet tastiest meat, wings and vegetables you always have laying around. Check out my cold busting chicken soup below.

2 lbs whole chicken wings, washed
2 carrots, cleaned and coarsely chopped
3 ribs celery (tops and all), cleaned and coarsely chopped
2 medium onions, quartered
2 cloves garlic, crushed
2 green onions, cleaned
4 sprigs fresh parsley
1 Tbs vegetable oil
2 tsp salt
2 tsp dried black peppercorns
1 dried bay leaf

Heat a large stock pot over medium high heat and add the oil.

Brown, but don’t full cook chicken on both sides for about 5 minutes.

Drain out the remaining oil, add vegetables, herbs, salt, pepper and enough cold water to cover the everything and bring to a boil.

Once the water boils, reduce heat to a slow simmer and allow cooking for 2 to 3 hours.

After 2 to 3 hours, remove soup from the heat and strain through a fine mesh strainer or cheese cloth into a clean container, discard vegetables and chicken as they have given up all of their flavor to the soup.

Now you have a pot of cold busting chicken soup to which you can add anything like:
- diced carrots and celery
- pasta
- chicken meat
- tomatoes or other vegetables
- spinach and mini meatballs would make a delicious Italian wedding soup
- soy sauce, diced pork and green onions would make a nice Chinese feeling soup

Did you like this dish? Let me know, leave a comment for me!

Momma Mia!

Okay, so I needed to get away from the Asian theme and cross the globe to Italy for my great-grandmothers recipe for sauce. Well, everyone in my family says it’s her recipe, and everyone makes completely different sauce, but mine's the healthiest and tastiest. Tomato sauce is just one of those foods that everyone is afraid of, no one bothers to make on their own and could not be easier to put together. Tomatoes are full of great stuff Vitamin C and the antioxidant lycopene which has the ability to help protect cells and other structures in the body from damage, i.e. prevents aging, and cancer…eat your tomatoes!

Now you will rarely ever hear me used the words “canned” whatever, but unless tomatoes are in season and affordable, I used canned tomatoes for my sauce. Tomato paste and crushed tomatoes to be exact. Adding a cup of win really improves the taste and gives it that extra richness. I prefer to use a Cabernet Sauvignon, but anything dry and red will work, just nothing sweet! I really hate sweet wines to start and I think it’s criminal when people cooking with them. Sweet wines are for fat people who don’t know what they’re doing, did I mention that I hate sweet wine. Anywho, I prefer to use fresh herbs and tomatoes in my sauce but it’s the last day of November, not to mention the landscaper totally leveled my summer garden one early fall day, damn him! I will leave recipes for fresh or dried herbs as well as fresh or canned tomatoes, check out the recipes below.

The Canned
1 Tbs olive oil
10 cloves garlic (more or less if you wish, I LOVE garlic), minced
1 medium sized onion, diced
1 small can of tomato paste or 4 Tbs of paste if you the kind from a tube
1 large can of crushed tomatoes
1 tsp kosher salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
1/2 Tbs garlic powder
1/2 Tbs onion powder
1/2 Tbs oregano
1/2 basil
1 bay leaf
1 cup dry red wine (I use cabernet, don’t use anything sweet!!!!)
pinch or more of red pepper depending on taste (I like it hot!)

Heat a large pot on medium high heat and add the oil.

Add all the fresh garlic and onions you’re using and sauté for 3 minutes, add the tomato paste.

Allow the paste, onions and garlic to sauté together or about 3 minutes more and add the cup of wine (maybe pour one for yourself).
Stir the wine, one cup of cold water and the paste into a thick, smooth mixture

Add the can of crushed tomatoes and all the herbs and spices, stir and allow boiling.

Once a boil is reached, turn the heat down to medium low and allow simmering for a minimum of 30 minutes and tasting for seasonings.

The sauce can simmer for hours and hours, it will only get better with time.

Serve this over pasta, meat, use for pizza and any where else you need tomato sauce.



The Fresh
8 fresh, in-season tomatoes (local and organic if you can), chopped
1 Tbs olive oil
8 cloves garlic (more or less if you wish, I LOVE garlic), minced
1 medium sized onion, diced
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
2 sprigs of fresh oregano
5 basil leaves, cut into strips
1 tsp fresh rosemary, chopped
1/2 cup dry red wine (I use cabernet, don’t use anything sweet!!!!)
pinch or more of red pepper depending on taste (I like it hot!)

Heat a large skillet on medium high heat and add olive oil.

Add onion and garlic and sauté for about 3 minutes until fragrant.

Add all the tomatoes to the pan with a pinch of salt to help release the water.

Allow the tomatoes to cook until they start to mush then add the wine.

Once the tomatoes have become very soft, take a potato masher and go to town on your sauce. You determine how chunky you want your sauce to be, more mashing means a smoother sauce.

Add you herbs and spices and stir, if the sauce is too thick add water.

Let the sauce cook for a 10-15 minutes to infuse all the flavor of the herbs.

Serve these sauces over fresh or whole wheat pasta, meat, use for pizza and any where else you need tomato sauce.

Did you like this dish? Let me know, leave a comment for me!

I'm Cooking Japanese, I Think I'm Cooking Japanese, I Really Think So

So I'm trying to eliminate milk and cheese from diet entirely and limit but not totally eliminate meats and poultry. My doctor is urging my to change my already ideal diet to more suit my health needs, so cheese and excess protein are out, vegetables and rice reign supreme. So I decided sushi would be a great thing to eat and a great new cooking adventure. So I’ve done my research, and I was prepared to shop. I knew I needed nori, which is the Japanese seaweed used to wrap everything up, wasabi, a spicy, green Japanese horseradish, a sushi-grade piece of fish and lastly sushi rice. I had picked up my special ingredients and, as my best friend Cynthia rolled her eyes in disgust, I began my trip to Tokyo.

4 sheets toasted nori sea vegetable (cut into 5-inch x 8-inch pieces)
1 cup cooked sushi rice
wasabi paste, to taste (I like a lot!)
1/4 lb raw high quality tuna, sliced into long thin strips (no skin)
1/2 cup of chilled crab meat
1/2 cup cucumber, cut into match sticks
1 avocado, sliced into long thin strips
4 teaspoons toasted sesame seeds



Place one nori sheet on a flat surface with the shiny side down and coarse side up.

Place rice 1/2" from the bottom, 2" from the top, 1/2" thick and completely covering nori from side to side.

Spread some wasabi paste across the center of rice, from left to right and then sprinkle with toasted sesame seeds.

For the first two sheets, lay the tuna slices, cucumber and avocado across the sheet, from end to end, in a single line on top of the bottom edge of the rice. For the last two sheets do the same but use the crab instead of tuna.

Fold bottom of nori toward the center, just so the ingredients are covered. Roll. Seal the roll by placing 4 grains of rice along the top edge of the nori and press together.

Slice all roll into 4 pieces.

Serve immediately with a soy sauce and wasabi paste mixture or chill.

If you have left over fish or vegetables, slice and toss everything together with a teaspoon of olive oil and a teaspoon of the soy and wasabi mixture, garnished with chopped green onions.

Did you like this dish? Let me know, leave a comment for me!

Giving Thanks for a Stir Fry

Well, the holiday of giving thanks has just passed and one thing I am not thankful for is a fridge full of rich heavy food. I am, however, thankful for the plethora of chopped clean vegetables left over from the crudite tray. I knew I had to use up the lion's share of these vegetables before they turned south and I wanted a nice, light, vegetarian meal. So I decided to dice them up and make a rice stir fry, light on the oil, of course. This is a great way to use up left-over rice, vegetables or even meat, it's super versatile, so you can play around with it. This dish is great because it's all done in one pan, it's healthy and it's delicious, Check out the recipe below.

2 cups prepared rice (white or brown)
2 cups of any of the following raw vegetables:
- carrots, cut into match sticks
- celery, diced
- mushrooms, coursely chopped
- broccoli, in small pieces
- any color bell pepper, cut into match sticks
- bean sprouts
- baby corn
4 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 medium onion, diced
1/2 tsp of vegetable oil
3 Tbs low sodium soy sauce
1 Tbs rice wine but cherry or vermouth will work in a pinch
1 Tbs rice vinegar or red wine vinegar
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp ground ginger
2 eggs, cracked and beaten
red pepper flakes or powder to taste
chopped green onion for garnish

This recipe cooks in about 5 minutes so make sure everything is preped ahead of time. The important thing is to keep everything moving in the pan, that's the point of a stir fry after all.

Heat a non-stick skillet on medium high heat and spray with cooking oil.

When the pan is hot add the onion and garlic, cook until you can smell it (about 1-2 minutes).

Add the vegetables to the pan and cook for 2 minutes(if you want to add dice cooked pork, chicken, fish or beef, now is the time).

Move everything to one side of the pan and add the beaten eggs, scramble and incorporate into the vegetables.

Add the rice (I used white but brown would be great too) as the egg finishes and mix in all the garlic powder, onion powder and ground ginger along with your desired amount of red pepper flakes, the soy sauce, vinegar and wine, stir quickly.

Once all the seasonings are mixed in and all the rice is evenly colored, take the pan from the heat and serve immediately.

Did you like this dish? Let me know, leave a comment for me!