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Happy New Year: Sugar Free Week Challenge

Happy New Year, RoodonFooders. Been a long time. Maybe too long. I hope everyone is faring well during this very long pandemic.  After indulging quite a bit with Christmas cookies, chocolate and oh-so-tasty fatty foods during the holiday season we decided to start the year off strong with a long run. It’s actually become a tradition to do at least 10 miles. Even my Garmin agrees (via badge)…

Watermelon to me always says “summer”. Being the cheapskate that I am, I sprung for the buy one, get one watermelon deal. Suppressing the urge to only eat it as fruit like a sucker, I turned them into the easiest margaritas ever. The mint helps add a bit of brightness to it. If you don’t have triple sec, a touch of other citrus helps. Salt of course, is optional.

Ingredients:

4 cups…

Buckwheat Kasha Pulao

This buckwheat pulao recipe came as a result of needing a break from rice and potatoes while fulfilling my craving for South Asian spices. If you’ve never tried kasha, it’s a nutty grain common in Eastern European cooking. It provides fiber and doesn’t spike blood sugar the way rice and other grains do. The nutty flavor is delicious and here it’s balanced with some…

http://wp.me/p2btVz-1oD Twin Peaks: The Food #twinpeaks #damnfinecupofcoffee

After a 26 year hiatus, it’s time again for a damn fine cup of coffee! Twin Peaks premieres tomorrow on Showtime. The surreal drama centers on FBI agent Dale Cooper (Kyle Mclachlan) investigating the murder of Laura Palmer. If you haven’t seen the show yet, begin your cramming session now.

Food was both in the foreground and background through the show’s two seasons. At the local diner, Cooper…

http://wp.me/p2btVz-1oq Montreal: Poutine Edition #montreal #fromcanadawithlove

If you’re not based in Canada, Seattle or maybe Burlington, Vermont sadly there is a good chance you didn’t grow up with poutine. Montreal’s signature food is a simple combination of French fries and gravy with cheese curds on top. In the U.S, disco fries aka fries with gravy exists but pales in comparison. You see – poutine is as much a part of the culture to this city as pizza slices are to…

Montreal: Bagel Edition http://bit.ly/2lP1AVk #montreal #bagel

Years ago, I had a roommate from Quebec who spoke highly of his home city of Montreal. When complementing New York City he would say things like “New York is almost as cool as Montreal” which in his book was high praise. I’ve read similar things about the way Montreal views its bagels. Recently, we got to sample the holed treats up north. New York bagels are known for being large, doughy and…

http://wp.me/p2btVz-1o9 Lettuce Sandwich Recipe: Wait! Don't go!

I wrote about My Grandmother’s Ravioli a few months back. It’s a show featuring Mo Rocca where he interviews sweet G-Ma’s for their prized recipes. This sandwich was inspired by an episode in New England about Lobster (of course) and oddly, lettuce sandwiches. Wait! Come back! They’re actually pretty tasty.

The original recipe which can be found here, uses white bread, iceberg lettuce, salt and…

http://wp.me/p2btVz-1nZ There are bagels and then there are bagels #nyc #bagels #bagelfactory

On a Tuesday, in a half-full subway car I was seated next to a scholarly, older Jewish man. As frequently occurs, a musician boarded to play a mariachi-style song in Spanish. My seatmate quipped “oh I was just thinking of that song”. I’d noticed the man early into the 30 minute subway ride because he ate not one but two poppy seed bagels….. with nothing on them. Normally this type behavior is a…

Quinoa Pulao http://wp.me/p2btVz-1nM #quinoa #ma's creations

Quinoa Pilaf

So Ma recently heard about quinoa from a friend. She pronounces the protein and iron rich food in the same way I did at first. “Qui-noa” rather than “KEEN-WAH”. I like the way she says it, so I haven’t corrected her just yet.

My favorite recipe using the grain/seed up until then was this breakfast porridge from Scott Jurek. Ma’s savory creation is a simple pulao that is tasty by…

Mystery Meat Sandwich #parkslope #keyfood #brooklyn

The term mystery meat only has a negative connotation, evoking perhaps to American readers the sketchy stuff used in certain fast food chain tacos or perhaps school cafeteria meatloaf. I have here though, one positive spin on that term.

One of the classic things to get for New Yorkers on the go are bacon, egg and cheese (B.E.C) sandwiches from the corner bodegas. Oddly one of the local grocery…

RoodonFood Reviews: Galil Bright Morning Cereal #glutenfree #vegan @galilfoods

Bright Morning Cereal

I have a ritual every couple of months of picking up tahini, pita and items like rosewater at Fertile Crescent, a Middle Eastern grocery. In a sea of primarily foods from that region there were several boxes of Galil Bright Morning, a product of Poland.

This Non-GMO product is both gluten free and vegan and perhaps most importantly has a chocolate hazelnut filling! It’s sort…

Vegan Gluten Free Carrot Cake http://bit.ly/1UppalT #vegan #gf

Carrot Cake

For the first time I tried my hand at gluten free vegan carrot cake. We discovered a recipe from Gimme Some Oven that turned out well. It was rich and stayed moist. (The latter is sometimes an issue with GF stuff).

We only made a couple of modifications. It says 2.5 cups but indicates 12.5 ounces  which doesn’t jibe so we went with 2 cups of flour. For the icing we used a recipe from

http://bit.ly/1ZFhLCC #2016 #Chicago #SanFrancisco

Happy New Year, all. It was a year with several food and life highlights. I got to visit San Francisco which was my first time on the west coast. Though there are many, many food options It’s It and Eddie’s Cafe were personal favorites. Last month, I started a new job as well which allowed me to visit Chicago (more on that in a future post).

The Bean

My favorites recipes for this year were the…