Fun With Your Food

As promised… HERE WE GOOO

Peel like an orange

Now it’s peeled and there’s the white rind left over everywhere : P

Peel as much as you can off. I find starting at the navel up top makes it easier

Split grapefruit in half

Now skinning it! I work from the center downwards.

Here’s the trickest part- separating the flesh from the rest of the fruit. It’s easiest if you use your thumbs. Don’t expect it to come off all in one piece either. My advice is to be gentle- squeeze too hard and there’ll be juice in your right eye in NO time .

Now clean up any remaining white-stuff and pop it in your mouth!

It’s a labor intensive process but worth it. I usually just sit over a trash can or paper bag and have at it. After eating a good juicy grapefruit I expect my hands to be sopping wet and a little prune-y. Making a mess with your food is FUN. Remember when you were a kid and you were told not to eat with your hands? That rule is OUT THE DOOR with grapefruit.

Let me know how you like it!

Teddy

PS Feeling better today. The rest helped but the never ending list of errands is getting longer. EK.

I’m not feeling too hot tonight. Best for me to just hit the hay early.

We all should take advice from Garfield. I mean he’s a cat that has lived for over 28 years (I think). He’s been doing something right.

But here’s a preview for tomorrow
Of course the ‘How to peel a grapefruit’ It’s not easy but well worth the work!

AND

My new Quinoa recipe which I will be submitting to The Vegan Club for their contest.

I didn’t get any great pictures of the food because I was starving and shaking a bit but you can get the idea

See you all tomorrow. BED TIME and time to get feeling a bit better. (everyone in my office is sick; I think I’ll blame them haha)

Teddy

And that’s an orange. Put them together and we have- GRAPEFRUIT!

Grapefruit developed as a hybrid of the pomelo and the sweet orange

It is believed that grapefruit originated in the West Indies.

There are two main western varieties (Ruby Red and Marsh White) and two recently developed varieties (Star Ruby and Rio). All are sweet, juicy and seedless. (source)

Packed with vitamin C- half is all you need for an whole days worth.

Practically all grapefruit in the United States is grown in Florida, California, Arizona, and Texas.

The grapefruit is named so because the fruit grows in bunches as grapes do. (source)

I saw this in a lot of places and it surprised me:
Grapefruit has interactions with prescription medications
May interact with medications for anxiety, depression, high blood pressure, or high cholesterol.

I used to really dislike the taste of grapefruit (too bitter/sour) but my grandma showed me how to eat it and I love it now.

I just peal it like an orange then I tear it in half. Now here’s the tricky part- take off the SKIN of the fruit. It’s usually the skin and the white bitter rind that taste bad. I don’t even put sugar on my grapefruit- with out the skin or white rind, it’s VERY sweet.

I never eat grapefruit cut in half, or packaged grapefruit either (it’s too bitter).

I’ll try and take some pictures of a peeled and NAKED grapefruit for you this week so you can get an idea about what I mean. (a recipe too of course!)

okay I’m off to the park.

be back soon!

Teddy

Update

Thank you to Jennhx for a great questions about grapefruits (you can see it in the comments). Here’s a link that has the entire history of the fruit.

I’m gathering info on Grapefruits for tomorrow’s post. I’m pretty excited about it. I think this is a misunderstood fruit. It’s not as tart as you think when served correctly. It’ll be fun! See you tomorrow

Teddy

Busy weekend eh?
You bet. Time to play catch up.

Saturday was BEAUTIFUL!

This is our little apartment complex. Pool looks inviting eh? We spent most of the day outside.

At night we went to a friends house warming party.. I baked some vegan peanut butter cookies. Not sure I liked how they turned out. (very dense- I want it a little more fluffy next time)

Before we could leave for the party we had to coerce the cat out from the shoes in my closet. Apparently they are comfortable.

At the party. Angela and I. We did this for about half an hour till we found a picture that we both agreed on, haha.

Sunday: FATHER’S DAY

The whole fam piled my my mom’s new car and went to grandpa’s. Grandpa loves taking pictures.

My uncle Roy is a world class juggler! I got about 12 shots. this is my favorite because he’s juggling UNDER his leg. He does it behind is back too. He can even ride a unicycle. Are you impressed yet? haha. Really though, he’s funny and great.

We went on a walk around my grandpa’s neighborhood and we saw a lot of fig trees. None were ripe yet and believe me, I looked hard.

Palm trees are the epitome of LA. This one is so tall, it amazed me.

After the walk we all sat around and chatted. It was a smoldering day out, about 90 degrees.

My grandpa, step dad and uncle chatting.

Not a lot with food this weekend. But I did have one GREAT thing:
I found a new coffee shop called Kean. They sell fair trade/organic/shade grown coffee! Richard was thrilled and we’re planning on buying some this week. Can’t wait to tell you about it.

Have a nice evening!

HAPPY Father’s day to you all!

I’m at grandpa’s house. I’ll be posting pictures of our fun-family day tonight.

Hope you had a fun day with your fam too!

Teddy

Stuffed Peppers

I was just looking for a quick and easy dinner really. I had some boxed sloppy joe mix and I added water, some tomato paste and cilantro to it. The sloppy joe mix was pretty salty and a little greasy so I decided to eat the peppers raw (it contrasted the greasy-ness of the mix).

I think I’ll be looking for a new way to make the sloppy joe base but I enjoyed the raw pepper more than a cooked one. Leaving it raw makes it a little more summer-y to me and I really don’t want to turn on the oven now that it’s 85 degrees on a daily basis.

Overall, I’d give this quick dinner a 7 out of 10 (mostly b/c it isn’t the healthiest meal I’ve made.) Richard loved it though. Ate some of my pepper and asked for more.

Let me know your thoughts. Does anyone have an idea for sloppy joe mix? or know a good brand to buy?

Have a great weekend guys!

Facts from: Worlds Healthiest Foods and Wikipedia

Best eaten during the months of August and September.

Bell peppers are not hot’. They contain a recessive gene which eliminates capsaicin, the compound responsible for the hotness found in other peppers.

Bell peppers are rich in both vitamin A and C.

Side note about Vitamin A: In a Kansas St University study, it was discovered that patients with emphysema had vitamin A deficiency. Therefore, adding more vitamin A lessened the effects of the disease (by NO means was it close to a cure). But this provided a possible explanation as to why some smokers develop the disease and some live to an old age and why some do not.

Outside of the US, bell peppers are called other names.

(Source)

Japan, Scandinavia and Hungry = Paprika
Malaysia, Australia = Capsicum (red capsicum, green capsicum…)
There are a few states that call bell peppers Mangoes (OH, ID, KY)

Green peppers are unripe bell peppers and are therefore less sweet and more bitter.

LAST FACT (to make you smile) On the popular Japanese show Iron Chef, Chairman Kaga eats a Yellow Bell pepper in the beginning credits. (LOVED watching this show when I was growing up, it was before the show was on the food network- my uncle showed it to me.)

Now if you’re all scratching your head wondering why I choose Bell Pepper it’s because last nights dinner was STUFFED bell peppers. I’ll post more on that (with pictures of course) later.

Have a great Friday!

Last night I was fortunate enough to be able to taste one of Food Snob’s cook book recipes.
The recipe was for Sweet Potato Soup.
I decided to make a little photo journal of the experience. Hope you enjoy it as much as I did!

First stop the local all-natural store Mother’s.

What’s in the mystery pot?

Okay, I’ll show you. It’s the beginnings of a great Sweet Potato Soup

While the soup was cooking I had some time (and some hungry parents with me) so I whipped up some mango shakes.

My mom and I enjoyed our shakes with her brand new roses in the background.

Dinner is ON! The soup turned out gorgeous and not to mention delicious.

My parents just ate it all up. Which makes me happy because they’re omni and they were being adventurous trying a vegan meal

See? not a DROP left

————————————————————————-
This recipe definately has a stamp of approval from myself and my parents. I accidentally bought too much of the ingredients so I’ll be making it tonight so Richard can taste it too.
The biggest reason I like this recipe is: It’s quick and easy. I’m what you call a “lazy” chef. I dont want to sit in the kitchen for a long time and I don’t want to have a Master’s degree to understand how to make a recipe.
So let me close by saying mMmMmmMMmmmmMmmmMmM too Food Snob’s soup and THANK YOU for letting me give it a whirl

I had very green dinner last night. It was great- I was craving greens for some reason.
It hit the spot just right : )
It was a cucumber, avocado and red lettuce sandwich.
The side salad was Kiwi, cucumber, kale and more red lettuce.

Tonight I’ll be at my parents house and I’ll be cooking! I’m super excited to cook for them and I hope they love it. I’ll let you know

Teddy