Being Healthy – Singing about Cooking

Re-Discovering Self-Care

Posted on January 12, 2020January 12, 2020 by singingaboutcooking

I started a new job six weeks ago. An amazing job. A dream job. An exciting job.

And in classic CeCe fashion, I’ve given it everything and more: 10 hour days, nights in front of the tv, weekends. I truly do love it and am enjoying the many ways I get to help others through this job.

Yet no matter how much I love it, it still wears me out…every day.

So last week when my co-leader caught me rubbing my eyes just after lunch, he started a campaign to send me home early, take some time off. Even if I hadn’t been working long days, I’d certainly accomplished well more than expected in a short time and had earned some extra self-care time.

So I left at noon on Friday only to realize I had absolutely no plan for self care. And it didn’t take me long to remember that when that question came up in my interviews, my co-leader had noticed…and noted…that I didn’t have a good answer for what I do for fun (self care).

So I gave myself permission to treat myself to some things I used to do regularly, a long time ago, that had somehow fallen off of my schedule:

massage – for the gift of touch, of meditation, of being present and focusing on the real needs of my physical body, of my acceptance that I can’t will away the tired when my body really needs rest
my favorite coffee – for the uniqueness, the spice, the warmth, the moment of earthiness with the first sip
my favorite handmade soap/shampoo/lotion store – for the indulgence, the expense, the luxury, and the promise of a bath rarely prepared
my favorite clothing store – for the self-expression through clothes that I’ve discovered only with age and acceptance of my body and my inner weird
my favorite rock – for the gift of stability, a place to sit, the elevation above the ground so I can see farther and more clearly whatever I’m looking at
my favorite church – for the blessing of my God, the comfort of a familiar place to worship, the words of prayer and absolution, the message I need to hear whether I like it or not, the safe place to cry it out in frustration, pleading, or thanksgiving
cooking – for myself to make intentional choices about how I feed my body and mind, for others to care for them
blogging – for sharing how my brain works things out, not always problems – more things that intrigue me, challenge me, seem important even when I don’t yet know why

Things I didn’t do that might also become part of my self care:

read a book or listen to a podcast – a devotion, a memoir, I think of this as something soul-feeding rather than mind-feeding, though certainly I’m happy for it to do both
hike a trail or waterfall – the mountains call to me, so that’s where I instinctively head for quiet time; and I wasn’t in the mountains this weekend
paddle a dragon boat on the lake (coming in spring)
meditate – something I’m trying out with a group starting 1/14

I have so many questions about what and how, all because I got out of the habit:

What do you do for self care that I might add to my try it out list?
What are you looking to achieve with self care?
What hasn’t worked for you, and why do you think it didn’t work?

I’d love to read what your self-care experiences have been.

Being Healthy, Cooking, corn free, gluten free, nut free, soy free

Prep-ahead Clean Lunch for $3.72: Ginger Chicken, Brussels Sprouts, Asparagus, Roasted Potatoes

Posted on October 19, 2017October 15, 2017 by singingaboutcooking

You know those prep-ahead clean eating lunch videos – often from Tasty? Well, I decided to give one a whirl.

Here’s the basic concept: pick 1 protein for 3-oz servings, 2 vegetables, and 1 gluten free carbohydrate (rice, potatoes, quinoa).

Mine: chicken breast with ginger aioli, brussels sprouts, asparagus and mushrooms, and creamer potatoes.

I took some help from my local Harris Teeter produce: cut and salt/pepper/garlicked brussels sprouts and asparagus pack ($3.99 each) and a ready-to-bake-in-pan package of creamer potatoes (also $3.99). The potatoes came with a seasoning packet, which I chose to use because the sodium was really, really low.

The only thing I made was garlic aioli. How? Peel some garlic – about 2 inches worth – and pour 1/4 cup of your good oil (olive, grapeseed, coconut) and a pinch of salt into your bullet blender and let it go. Then I brushed it directly onto my chicken breasts. I drizzled the little bit left over onto the brussels sprouts, just because.

Into a 450°F fully preheated oven for 30 minutes. That’s all it takes.

Let it cool and divvy it up into four microwave safe food storage containers. Voila. Lunch for the week – for me, at least, since I have only four days with a fixed lunch hour.

Cost Analysis

$2.90 – Chicken Breast – one giant one from a 6-pack, cut into 4 pieces
$3.99 – pre-cut asparagus with sliced mushrooms and minced garlic
$3.99 – pre-cut brussels sprouts seasoned with salt and pepper
$3.99 – creamer potatoes already in a baking pan and including seasonings

Total = $14.87

Cost per lunch = $3.72

Being Healthy, corn free, gluten free, nut free, soy free

Day-of Homemade Baked Beans

Posted on September 4, 2017 by singingaboutcooking

That splatter around the rim is a result of the sauce reduction process. Yum!

Earlier this year, I made from dry-bean-scratch baked beans for a group of out-of-towners, and well, I think it blew their minds. And I get it. Even my family’s “Aunt Von’s Baked Beans” come from the 1940s, a time when country cooks like Aunt Von would have made most bean meals from dry beans, but even her recipe starts with Campbell’s Baked Beans – already seasoned and sauced.

But c’mon, what’s it gonna cost you to experiment and really understand and control exactly how your baked beans taste instead of trusting what comes out of a can with ingredients made or refined in a lab? These are my day-of baked beans – the only difference is that I start with plain, unseasoned, unsalted canned beans because they are pre-soaked for me. Everything else is the same as my regular dry-bean recipe:

2 cans of great northern beans, drained and rinsed
1 green bell pepper, diced tiny
1 small or 1/2 large sweet onion, diced tiny (try to get Vidalia or Wadmalaw)
1 large or 2 small garlic cloves, minced
1 can of tomato sauce (try to get no salt added)
1/4 – 1/2 cup brown sugar – for my family, I use 1/2 c, for out-of-towners I use 1/4 c
1/3 cup worchestershire sauce – I use a gluten free, corn free, soy free version
1T apple cider vinegar (more if you like it more tart than sweet)
1t salt
1t pepper
1t ginger (ground for sweet, fresh diced for spice)
1/2t all-spice
1 pinch red pepper flakes (literally 10-15 flakes)
3-4 slices of bacon, cut into 1-inch pieces

Mix everything together in a bowl at least 2 hours before you need to start baking (at least 4 hours before serving). Taste to see how sweet, tangy, tart, spicy it is and add seasonings as desired. Keep in mind that at this stage, the tomato sauce is the main source of tangy and that will mellow into sweet during baking; be careful not to go overboard on sweet at this stage.

Ingredients that contribute to sweetness are tomato sauce, sugar, bell pepper, onion, garlic, and ground ginger.

Ingredients that contribute to tangy- or tartness are tomato sauce, apple cider vinegar, worchestershire sauce.

Ingredients that contribute to spiciness are garlic, fresh ginger and red pepper flakes.

Cover with plastic wrap or lid and let marinate on the counter for at least 2 hours. It’s important to NOT put it in the refrigerator because that will slow down the marinating – not ideal for day-of beans.

Pour into 8×8 or 9×9 casserole dish and top with bacon pieces. Put in 350F oven for 90-120 minutes. Test at 90 minutes by lightly jiggling the dish. If it moves like liquid, makes a ripple, it’s not done yet. You’re looking for the liquid to reduce to a thick glaze and fully cooked bacon on top, not a thickened sauce and still-white fat on the bacon. And the bacon won’t really start to cook until the liquid stops touching it.

Another way to think of the ideal consistency of baked beans is that when you spoon then onto the plate 1) you don’t need to use a slotted spoon to drain them and 2) you don’t have to worry about the juice contaminating anything else on the plate.

Naturally, these are my ideals as a Southern cook in South Carolina who learned to cook from a Texas and Oklahoma ranch or cowboy style of cooking. Think about it: you can’t ride a horse around with a pot of juicy beans sloshing around.

Being Healthy, corn free, gluten free, soy free

Gluten-free Italian Dinner: Pesto Chicken and Tomatoes and Rice

Posted on August 26, 2017 by singingaboutcooking

Gluten-free means you can never have authentic Italian food again, right? WRONG! There’s so much more to Italian food than pasta. Here’s one of my favorite 1-pan Italian dinner bakes that hits the rights notes with the whole family.

Ingredients (in order of use):

1.5 cups white rice (long grain, jasmine, basmati, whatever)
1 14 oz can of diced tomatoes with Italian seasonings already included
2 cups water, chicken stock, or combination (especially if you have some you just need to use up in the fridge)
2 lb. chicken breast and/or thighs, skinless, boneless (roughly 4 pieces, 1 per person)
1 8 oz container of pesto

NOTE: this is the semi-homemade version, as Sandra Lee might say; you can certainly make your own chicken stock, dice your own tomatoes, and blend your own herbs into pesto if you’re so inclined.

Pre-heat your oven to 350°F.

In an 8×8 or 9×9 baking dish, combine the rice, diced tomatoes, and chicken stock (or water). Put in the oven for 30 minutes.

After 30 minutes, remove and stir mixture; most of the rice will still be small and hard – don’t worry – that’s normal!

Add your four pieces of chicken. Spoon roughly equal amounts of pesto over each one – approximately 3 Tbspns – and spread to cover the chicken.

Return to oven for 30-45 minutes, depending on how large/thick your chicken pieces are.

This dish is really great for Southern American families where red rice is king; the minor change up in herb seasonings helps keep things fresh without completely blowing picking kids for a loop.

TIP: make ahead and reheat or freeze. When you thaw it out, add about 1 cup of stock or water to make sure the rice doesn’t dry out when heated in a 350°F oven for about 30- minutes (assuming thawed to room temperature.

Being Healthy, Cooking, corn free, gluten free, nut free, soy free

Greek Chicken and Rice

Posted on July 16, 2017 by singingaboutcooking

I’m not trying to present anything authentically Greek like your native or first-generation Yaya made, but rather to elevate the simple chicken and rice dish with the flavors most Americans associate with Greek or (generically) Mediterranean food. In fact, if you leave off the Greek-ish additions, you could just say this is Lemon Pepper Chicken and Rice and stop there :-).

To easily change up a wonderful dish when it’s getting a little stale in the dinner rotation, consider adding lemon juice to your chicken and rice bake and serve with a sprinkle of feta cheese and olives.

Ingredients for a 4-serving bake

1 cup uncooked white or brown rice (jasmine, basmati, American long grain, whatever)
2 cups water or chicken stock or combination
1-2 lemons, juiced (1-2 T prepared lemon juice) – to taste
4 4-6-oz pieces of boneless chicken – any combination of breasts and thighs
1t salt (only if using water because even low sodium chicken stock already has salt)
1t – 1T black pepper – to taste
1 package of crumbled feta cheese
1/2 cup roughly chopped kalamata olives (or black or green if you like those)

NOTE: you might think that dicing the chicken before putting it in the bake will make this easier, but the smaller pieces cook so much more quickly than the rice that they become dry and rubbery. Not pleasant, IMHO.

Preheat oven to 350°F.

Layer rice, water/stock, juice, chicken, salt, and pepper in a 9×9 baking dish in the order listed above for the least messy assembly.

Bake uncovered for 30 minutes. Stir – this is essential for all of the rice to get cooked.

Bake uncovered for 10 more minutes.

Use two forks to shred the chicken. Stir to mix thoroughly with the rice.

Serve with a sprinkle of feta cheese and chopped olives.

LEFTOVERS: if you have any leftovers, they make for a great cold rice salad with artichoke, cucumber, tomato, and sweet onion and a drizzle of olive oil or Greek salad dressing added to the feta and olives. Mmmmm, lunch!

Being Healthy, Cooking, corn free, gluten free, nut free

PaPa’s Fish Stew from my Grandfather’s Personal Recipe Book

Posted on July 13, 2017 by singingaboutcooking

My dad and brother go on a fishing trip every year in August, and brought back some shark that we’ve been wondering how we want to cook. And about a week ago, in a fit of nostalgia, I was flipping through my grandfather Joe Jones’s personal cookbook and came across his Fish Stew recipe, complete with variations for 21-, 15-, 10-, 5-, and 2-gallon batches. I rubbed my hands together and giggled with fanatical glee: PaPa would LOVE shark in his fish stew!

Bonus! This is such a pantry meal since every ingredient is a staple in our family pantry.

As I’m interested in batches for a standard 4-5 person family, I made just a few adjustments, mainly in the liquid ingredients:

3 slices of bacon, chopped into strips or dices
2 medium sweet Vidalia or yellow onions, chopped small
1.5 lbs potatoes, diced (roughly 3 cups)
2 14 oz cans of diced tomatoes (recommend fire roasted with garlic)
2 cups V-8 juice (recommend original or low sodium)
1 cup fish or chicken broth
1/2 cup fish sauce or white wine (but not both)
1/4 cup Worchestershire sauce or soy sauce (but not both)
1/4 cup hot sauce (like Tabasco or Texas Pete)
1 T Old Bay seasoning (or similar)
2-3 lbs white fish (shark and gator work well also)
Optional ingredients: shrimp, crab, clams, lemon juice.

In a large stock pot over medium heat, drop in the bacon and onion and let sweat and sizzle for 3-4 minutes, just until the bacon starts to firm up and the onions start to get clear but NOT browned or caramelized.

Add the potatoes, diced tomatoes, V-8 juice, white wine/fish sauce, Worchestershire/soy sauce, hot sauce, and seasoning.

Bring to a boil and simmer for 15 minutes.

Add the fish. Bring to a boil and simmer for 15 minutes.

Use your stirring spoon to break up the fish into smaller pieces. Flakier fishes like catfish and flounder will “melt” into the stew. Sturdier fishes like mahi mahi, snapper, shark, or swordfish will hold up as chunks.

Serve with cornbread or breadsticks or any sturdy bread. Soft breads like croissants or yeast rolls will get gummy and chewy. For this night (photos), I heated some leftover Papa John’s parmesan breadsticks in the oven for 15 minutes on 350°F.

Confession: I HATE tomato juice and tomato soups, which extends to PaPa’s fish stew, but my family loves it. It’s often what we make with any leftover fish from a fry or a restaurant rather than reheating (stinky!) or choking down cold, dry fish.

Being Healthy, Cooking, corn free, gluten free, nut free, soy free

Easy Spanish-style Sausage and Rice

Posted on May 18, 2017May 12, 2017 by singingaboutcooking

My best friend has her abuela’s pot for making Arroz con Pollo, but my family is much less discerning of that level of authenticity. Instead, we get close with this flavorful sausage and rice dish.

You’ll need

1 family size package of Vigo Spanish Rice (with seasonings included in the package)
2 lbs cooked link sausage, such as kielbasa, turkey sausage, venison sausage, etc.
1-2 packages of frozen peppers and onions (roughly 1-2 cups of chopped frozen or cooked peppers and onions)
1/2 – 1 cup whole green Spanish olives stuffed with pimentos
1 poblano pepper, diced (optional)

Cook the rice according to package instructions.

While the rice cooks, slice cooked sausage into coins and brown in skillet.

Note: Vigo seasoned Spanish rice is not corn-free. Use unseasoned white or yellow rice and Sazon with Saffron seasoning.

Thaw/steam frozen peppers and onions (with poblano pepper if using) in the microwave. Or, if using fresh veggies, sautee in skillet after sausage is all browned.

When rice is finished, mix in browned sausage, warmed peppers and onions, and olives. I leave my olives whole because all of my peeps like them; feel free to slice or chop yours up if you need to hide them ;-).

Serve directly from the rice pot, accompanied by fresh fruit salad or seasonal marinated vegetables.

Tip: maintain healthy overnight blood sugar by skipping the “bread on the side” with dinner when you already have rice, pasta, or potatoes. Even non-diabetics can experience unhealthy blood glucose levels when consuming extra complex carbohydrates.

Being Healthy, Cooking, corn free, gluten free, nut free, soy free

1-pan Dinner: Chicken Marbella with Roasted Potatoes and Brussels Sprouts

Posted on May 14, 2017May 12, 2017 by singingaboutcooking

For a family of 2-4, this meal can be made using 1 cutting board, 1 chef’s or chopping knife, 1 mixing bowl, and 1 large baking sheet. You can make clean up even easier by lining your baking sheet with foil.

For this dinner, you’ll need

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (or comparable chicken strips or chicken thighs)
4 medium potatoes, scrubbed and diced (Yukon gold, red, russet – whatever kind you like)
1 lb brussels sprouts, cleaned and halved
1 Vidalia or sweet onion, large diced (optional)
2-4 T good oil (olive, grapeseed, coconut)

For the Marbella marinade, you’ll need

4 prunes, chopped roughly
6-8 green Spanish olives stuffed with pimentos, chopped roughly
1 T capers, chopped roughly
1 large clove of garlic, minced
1/4 cup good oil (olive, grapeseed, coconut)
1/4 apple cider vinegar
1/4 t salt
1/4 t pepper

The night before you’ll be cooking this dinner, combine all of the Marbella marinade ingredients and whisk to mix well. Pour over the raw chicken (yep, it can even be frozen still); make sure the chicken is one layer when you put it in the fridge. It is super important that you marinate the chicken overnight.

For baking, prehead the oven to 375°F, line your baking sheet with foil and spray it down well with cooking spray.

Toss your diced potatoes and halved Brussels sprouts in good oil and salt and pepper. You can certainly add any other spices you like at this time; for pairing with the Marbella flavors, I recommend lemon pepper or dijon, something with a strong, tart flavor to contrast with the salty and sweet of the Marbella.

Lay out the chicken in a row across one end of the pan, layer the potatoes in the middle in one layer, and layer the Brussels sprouts and onions on the other end of the pan. Pour any remaining Marbella marinate over the chicken.

Place the pan on the upper rack in the center of the oven, and set the timer for 30 minutes.

Being Healthy, Cooking, nut free, soy free

My Mom’s Mother’s Day Special: Salmon Croquettes, Charleston Macaroni Pie, Marinated Cucumbers and Onions

Posted on May 12, 2017May 14, 2017 by singingaboutcooking

According to my blog, it’s been more than five years since I last made salmon croquettes. These have always been a super special occasion food, mostly because salmon is so expensive. So when I told my mom that I was thinking of making salmon croquettes for dinner on Mother’s Day 2017, she immediately rounded out the meal with Macaroni Pie a la Charleston Receipts and marinated cucumbers and onions.

Marinated Cucumbers and Onions

Start at least 1 day ahead by peeling and slicing kirby pickling cucumbers and Vidalia sweet onions into a container with a lid. Add 1.5 T salt and 1.5 T black pepper. Fill with apple cider vinegar halfway up the pile of veggies. Add water until veggies are just covered. Put the lid on and refrigerate. And if you’re like me, put a sticky note on the lid warning away the snackers lest you find the container empty before dinner.

Macaroni Pie a la Charleston Receipts

Charleston has a side dish variation on macaroni and cheese that we call “pie” because it uses an egg-milk custard to firm up into nice, cheesy, cuttable squares. You can make this ahead and heat it up for 30 minutes at 350°F, but it’s better to make it fresh, especially for special occasions.

Salmon Croquettes

Make the salmon croquettes fresh using canned salmon, being sure to remove all of the skin and bones (especially the spine) and breaking up the salmon well. These pan-fried salmon patties rival crab cakes as the best seafood “pattie” food on the coast, even though salmon isn’t native to our waters. Check out how to make them here.

Being Healthy, Cooking, corn free, gluten free, nut free, soy free

Teriyaki Pork, Fried Rice, and Hibachi Veggies

Posted on May 4, 2017 by singingaboutcooking

I LOVE the show and the flavor of a great Japanese hibachi meal, but I don’t have one of those amazing, huge hotplates for making everything at the same time. So I turned to what I know of cooking rice casseroles and oven steaming veggies to see how I could make this dinner easier and faster. Here’s how it goes:

Time at Counter: 30-45 minutes
Time Food is Cooking: 60 minutes

Sorry – I didn’t think I’d be blogging this whole meal, so I didn’t take pics along the way. I’ll add some next time I do this dinner…which should be soon based on my family’s reviews!

Prep the Fried Rice for the Oven

Preheat oven to 350°F.

In your 8×8 or 9×9 baking dish, pour all of the ingredient:

1 cup uncooked white or brown rice (regular, not instant or frozen)
1.5 cups water
1/4 cup sesame oil
1/4 cup soy sauce (or use my soy-free soy sauce)
1 cup frozen peas and carrots mix (get the store brand on sale some time)

Stir to combine the liquids and put in the oven for 1 hour.

NOTE: you can use any combination of veggies you like; just keep the total amount to no more than 1.5 cups or you’ll overwhelm your rice.

Prep the Hibachi Veggies for the Oven

Chop, dice, slice, or whatever cut you like up to 4 cups of raw or frozen veggies. Keep in mind that frozen veggies will not be crisp when cooked. I like to use

3 fresh zucchinis, quartered lengthwise and then copped into 1-inch pieces
4 fresh large carrots, cut into coins or half moons (for the fatter end of the carrot)
1-2 sweet Vidalia onions, thick sliced and quartered
1/4 soy sauce
4 T butter or margarine

When I have them or think of them, I’ve been known to add sliced water chestnuts, baby corn (chopped in 1/2-inch pieces), bamboo shoots, mung bean sprouts.

Toss veggies with soy sauce and top with 5-6 pats of butter (4 T butter or margarine). Cover with foil and put in the oven for 20 minutes with foil on and 20 minutes with foil off. Stir veggies when you remove the foil.

NOTE: by this time, you’ve been at the counter for about 15-25 minutes, depending on how efficient (faster and maybe messy) versus perfectionist (slower and cleaning as you go) you are in the kitchen. You’ve got anywhere from 15-25 minutes to go, depending on your style.

Prep the Teriyaki Glazed Pork Loin

Put a large skillet, preferable cast iron, over medium heat with 2 T of your favorite cooking oil; do NOT use butter or margarine for this step. You’ll need the equivalent of 2 boneless pork chops worth of cubed pork per person. For my family of 4, roughly 1/4 of a large pork loin renders generous portions.

for 2 adults: use a package of 4 boneless pork chops
for 4 adults: use 1/4 (about 8 inches) of a large pork loin
for 6 adults: use 1/2 of a large pork loin

TIP: don’t buy cut boneless pork chops; they are nothing more than that huge pork loin on the bottom shelf sliced up. Watch for the pork loin to be on sale or BOGO. You can save TONS of money slicing your own pork chops – thin for skillet frying or oven cooking and thick for grilling.

While that skillet is heating up with the oil, get cubing and drop your cubed pork in the skillet as you cut it. No need to wait to add it all at once.

As long as you really do have your skillet on medium and not higher, you won’t have to worry about burning, or even stir for about 10 minutes. Give it a quick stir every 2-3 minutes, checking to get the pink sides down. After about 20 minutes, even if you still see a little bit of pink, pour in a bottle of teriyaki glaze – I use Kikkoman – or roughly 1.5 cups of my soy-free teriyaki sauce reduced (assume you’ll need to do this before starting this dinner). Drop the burner down to low, stir to coat every piece, and let it simmer and thicken further while the rice and veggies finish in the oven.

Now is a great time to pour yourself a glass of Japanese plum wine or a nice Riesling or Late Chardonnay or Moscato for a little sip of sweetness against the slightly salty hibachi dinner. Sit down and rest until the timer goes off.

BONUS: you’ve only got 3 cooking dishes, a cutting board and maybe a couple of measuring cups for clean up. No collections of mixing dishes to try and fit into the dishwasher or on the drying rack.