1st cookbook

I mentioned in my first blog post how I started cooking when I was away at college. I had begun to get tired of eating fast and frozen food way too often. I remember getting a wok as a birthday present and I bought this book to go along with. Well the wok is long gone but the tattered book still remains.

I leafed through it many times thinking of exotic Chinese food and locales. Pickled Szechwan Vegetables started sounding like something I would like to try. Spicy Sprout and Cucumber Salad. Sure. Fifteen Minute Chicken. Yes. I began to go to the grocery store so that I would have the various ingredients on hand. I would look for dried mushrooms, bean pastes and hoisin sauce. I was becoming obsessed. Various Chow Meins, egg rolls, and all sorts of stir fries slowly began to happen.

I even filled in the title for this recipe from the index because it was not printed.

Through the years, this Almond Chicken has become a family favorite.

I think we all can tell I've made this before.

It has become the base for many different stir fry dinners since I learned the basics. Cutting up and marinating the chicken, making the crisp almonds, prepping the veggies and making the sauce. Next I cook the chicken in the wok and remove. Then stir fry the veggies until crisp tender, add in the sauce, then the chicken. Serve with some rice and it's a nice dinner.

I now like to change up the veggies for variety. Carrots, celery and snow peas are natural choices. Broccoli and cauliflower florets can work well. Bean sprouts or Shishito peppers? Why not. I even swapped out the bamboo shoots for these kohlrabi 'bamboo shoots' last year.

The family didn't seem to mind. So feel free to take this recipe and change it up with whatever you have in your fridge. I guess at some point it isn't Almond Chicken anymore, but something slightly different and usually pretty tasty.

I guess I owe Rose Cheng, Michele Morris and Chinese Cookery a big THANK YOU for helping me get started with my hobby of cooking!

The odd area of the produce section...

I've written two posts about odd vegetables so one might wonder 'what up with dat'?! What made you want to write about these when there are lots of normal veggies that are perfectly fine and easier to buy. Potatoes, onions, bell peppers and romaine lettuce are normal veggies that most people like. Why not talk about a lighter broccoli rice casserole that has ingredients you can buy at any supermarket? A fresh spin on a Caesar salad? I can't deny all sorts of wonderful dishes can be made with 'normal' veggies.

But I have a bit of an adventurous palate. I like to try new things. I used to only order the Chef's Special when we would go out for dinner. I would hope the Mrs will order something different from me so that I could taste it. I will work through almost every item on a menu at places I frequent.

Maybe this drew me to the far end of the produce section. The area with the chard and kale greens, fennel bulbs, beets and rutabagas. Pretty much where no one usually shops. Items most probably didn't eat as a child. Things I hadn't cooked with. Hmm...

Stuff is a little foreign down there. These aren't always user friendly veggies. You might have to pick through some piles of greens to find the best ones. You will have to use your carrot peeler on some beets or rutabagas. You will have to flex your muscles to cut open a tough winter squash. I have found it an interesting culinary playground and no one will deny the health benefits of eating the rainbow.

This adventurous side has led me to the farmers market where organic and heirloom veggies and fruits live. Enough talk, here's a little recipe for roasted carrots and radishes.

Wash and lightly peel several carrots and cut the radishes in half or smaller if they are big ones. I like to just scrape the carrots lightly with a knife so that you don't peel too much of those colors off.

Lightly olive oil, salt and pepper and season with some sprigs of thyme and rosemary that are super local (from my garden). Place in a 425° oven for 25 minutes until tender shaking the pan every once in a while. I then cut the carrots into smaller pieces, and drizzled a little honey and local parsley over the top. Serve now.

It was very tasty and I suppose it could even be made with 'normal' carrots & radishes.

Coming soon...

The Blog Begins...

Hi I'm Jeff aka El Hefe. I guess Hefe is the nickname I gave myself years ago and it has just stuck. I have an intense love of cooking and food of all types but I am not a chef. My cooking began when I was away at college and eating way too much Taco Bell, Long John Silvers, and Mrs. Stouffer's fantastic frozen entrees. Ugh! I remember asking for a wok as a birthday present one year and I bought a Chinese Cookbook to go along with. I still have it with pages that fall out. This forced me to get into the store and cooking with meats and veggies as well as learning to cook in general. I also had a small hibachi that I would use to grill with. I've been a subscriber to Food & Wine Magazine for many years as well as Cooking Light. I have a large cookbook collection that I love but more recently it's all about Google. All one must do is search and anything you might want to try is just a few clicks away.

I love hitting farmers markets and picking up super fresh, organically grown fruits and veggies. I know that these are much better than supermarket varieties but if needed I will use those as well. It's just a lot of fun going each week and even getting to know the farmers as well as other vendors. Healthy is my key I guess as I have gotten into blending green smoothies as well as juicing over the last 6 months or so. I am sure this has increased my health and wellness many times over as I feel fabulous lately (personal moment).

I guess that I have been heading this way for a while now. I have received varying interest in my instagram posts instagram.com/theelhefe from people I know as well as online folks that I may or may not ever meet. Several people have commented that I should start a blog, so this is for you.

Disclaimers: I am not a chef. I follow instructions well and I think I have a talent for finding interesting recipes out of a vast sea of so many. Tweaking these recipes and changing up ingredients is fun for me.

Also I am not a writer. I may have been on twitter for over 3 years twitter.com/theelhefe but that doesn't count and I may revert to 140 spaces at times...

I follow many food bloggers and really respect what they do and I can only try my best so bear with me. I am sure I will plug those that i like. So let's have a little fun and maybe I can help you learn a thing or two that I have picked up.