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sadiepix's Profile

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Location: Kalamazoo, MI

About: I'm a pastry chef, but love ALL cooking & all aspects of food! I love to garden & wish I had more space for it. I'm all about eating, fresh, unprocessed foods by season, & try to find foods that work w/ what is available during each part of the year.

Favorite foods: Spring-dandelion/new lettuce salads w/ good cheeses. Summer-anything grilled, fresh herbs, spicy/cajun & BBQ! Fall-roasted root veggies & braised meats, mushrooms, walnuts, cranberries. Winter-Stews...beets, lots of squash, fresh homemade bread.

Last bite on earth: I think brie would have to be involved. Or maybe a good southern vinegar BBQ. Blackened salmon. Crawfish. Fresh strawberries and cream. Gooseberry and rhubarb crumble. Blueberries off the bush. Roasted red peppers and mushrooms.

The Ten Most Recent Posts By sadiepix

From Talk

Anyone else forage the yard for greens and such come spring?

New to SE, and totally addicted!!!
So as soon as spring turns things green here, and all season long, I love to add things from my yard to our meals as/if they are available. Dandelion greens and flowers, lemon clover, wild onions, chicory, etc. I grew up doing this and think it is normal and yummy (chemical-free yard). A few years ago my MIL heard about me doing this and actually thought we were so broke we could not afford food and so I was feeding her son weeds. :)
I have some friends who are good with it, but I get more odd looks and lectures about "grazing".
I love going to other places for wild berries, mushrooms, herbs etc. too, and I have a standing agreement with one of the pocket parks to let me gather dandelion flowers...but guess how many times I have to answer "what are you doing?"
Tired of being thought strange...so, anyone else enjoy and gather the tasty stuff from outside?

The Ten Most Recent Comments By sadiepix

From Required Eating

In Season: Blueberries

http://www.gemoscan.com/food_intolerance_test/food_allergies_blueberry_allergy.html

Here is a page I found about blueberry intolerance. It is possible that you are sensitive to them for sure.
It has a bit about re-introducing them at a later time than the allergy symptoms happened, so maybe if you are older than a teen now (I assume) you could try a small amount and see? (Talk to a doc though).

I would be sad not to eat them! Maybe your system can handle them now? If not, there are lists of related plants just in case you want/need to avoid them too. Good luck!

From Talk

Zucchini, I want to like you!

Try a zucchini cake, like a potato cake, but crisper.

I like it in Carrot and Zucchini A Scapece--lightly fried in a little oil (I add mushrooms and at the end, quartered tomato) and then tossed with red wine vinegar, salt and pepper, and then either basil and mint or thyme and chives with parsley. Eat warm or room temp.

Grilled is awesome too, as said above.

From Talk

Quest for the perfect chocolate cookies

From Talk

Corn on the Cob is best when ______

@bitchin--looks like me 3 days ago!
We just picked blueberries and cherries, peaches are next!
Corn is just coming in at the stands MI grown, a couple more weeks for perfection.

I love living in the fruit belt! FEAST is a good word for it! :)

I want more corn now!

From Talk

Corn on the Cob is best when ______

Fresh as possible.
Sans silk but plus husk and soaked, then either right onto the grill or fire, or wrapped in foil and onto the grill or fire. Drench in butter (applied by placing some in the center of some good soft bread and rolling the corn around on it). No salt.

If the grill/fire is full, steamed standing up in just a little water for 10 minutes. Butter the same way.

YUM.

@bitchincamero--howdy to another West MI resident!

From Talk

What would you order?

The new one!

From Talk

popsicles, drumsticks, and ice cream sandwiches... oh my!

@db--Thanks!

From Talk

popsicles, drumsticks, and ice cream sandwiches... oh my!

I second you on the paletas! I miss living near a larger Hispanic community where I could get those more often. Harder to find here.

If I get to pick the freezer-section treat then it is a strawberry shortcake Good Humor bar all the way-YUM!

If I have to pick from the 3 in the question, then the Drumstick for sure!

@db--any tricks to your margarita popsicles or are they just frozen-all-the-way drinks? Loooove me a good 'rita and a popsicle of the same sounds yummy!

From Required Eating

In Season: Blueberries

@kathy--I gotta tell you, make the wine!!! Blueberry wine (homemade) is great!!! I don't have that book, thought it sounds fun.
Such a fun experiment if you have never made any, and really tasty!

Be sure to let us foodies know if you do!

From Talk

Your food dislikes -- items or categories or methods or recipes?

Good topic question as always db! :)

There are almost no individual food items I don't like (of what I have been able to try, plenty of "fancier" or less available foods have yet to cross my lips...) but certain combos ick me out.

Corn. I love it on the cob, I will even (if I have to) eat a pile of it cooked from frozen, or in mixed (but plain) veggies. Other than that it absolutely makes me ill to look at in a dish. I don't know why, but I will not eat a dish that has corn kernels in it. Not soups, chili, rice dishes, puddings etc. Yet I love anything made from corn meal. Those soft corn puddings I often see served would be fantastic without the whole kernels. Corn chowder...bleh. Don't even show me canned corn. Just can't do it. I have tried to figure out why this is, as it is mostly texture and visual appeal, not taste. Must have been a childhood soup trauma or something, but it just cannot be overcome.

Eggs. I don't eat them in a breakfasty way very often, but I can sometimes, if I am in the right mood. Once in a great while I can do chopped hard-boiled in a good pasta/tuna salad etc, and I love the hard yolk part. But other than that, I do not want to see chunks of eggs in my food. Not in fried rice and absolutely not in Indian food, which makes me sad. So many dishes at Indian places look great, but then I see egg in them (I don't mind as garnish, I can pick it off) and I can't do it.
Don't even get me started on when they put raisins (yum) with egg in those dishes!

Overcooked can be a category, but that usually only happens when I am eating at another person's house, so it is not really a big deal as I am not there to critique the food, but to see friends. The only foods I simply cannot bear when soggy and overcooked are peppers (bell/colored) and that is texture again.

Like db said, there are certain other foods/combos that don't appeal to me as much as those same foods in other ways or separate, but no others than just ruin a meal and destroy my appetite. Most things I CAN eat, it becomes a matter of choice, rather than horror. :D


Responses to Comments by sadiepix

From Required Eating

Cook the Book: 'Summer on a Plate'

From Required Eating

Cook the Book: 'Summer on a Plate'

For me, it's my husband. He's a whiz in the kitchen and I have learned so much from him. Best of all, he's a mentor that's readily available!

From Talk

Corn on the Cob is best when ______

I just roasted corn on the cob with the lime/butter trick and thought it was fantastic....mix up butter with lime juice and cilantro, and smear all over the cob. then wrap in foil and roast in the oven for about 25-30 minutes. i also think this would be good with butter/paprika mix. yum!

From Talk

Corn on the Cob is best when ______

I love it grilled with cheese and a little cayenne pepper and chili powder, but since I rarely grill, I boil it--cob on--and like it with just a sprinkling of garlic salt.

From Talk

Zucchini, I want to like you!

@birchaum--that sounds lovely, I'm adding your recipe to my "bubba-gump-esque" list!

From Required Eating

Cook the Book: 'Summer on a Plate'

....my mother

From Required Eating

Cook the Book: 'Summer on a Plate'

My mom at first. She would let me make mini pies in pyrex cups when she made full pies so I could make and eat my own.

From Talk

Zucchini, I want to like you!

Slow-cooked courgettes on toast

I often cook courgettes like this - they lose most of their moisture and become a thick, fragrant, chunky mass. They can be used as a pasta sauce (just add a little cream) or the base for a lovely soup (just whizz up with a little stock and/or milk). But they also make a great toast topping - which of course the Italians would call bruschetta. Serves six as a light lunch.

3 tbsp olive oil

3 garlic cloves, peeled and chopped

1kg courgettes, finely sliced

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

For the toast/bruschetta

6 slices of coarse country bread

1 garlic clove, cut in half

Extra-virgin olive oil, or butter

Parmesan, or other grateable cheese (optional)

Heat the oil in a large saucepan, then add the garlic, courgettes and a little salt. Cook gently, so the courgettes soften without browning. As they release their water, turn up the heat to bubble it off. When they become more concentrated and pulpy, turn it down again. Stir whenever they begin to catch on the pan, and do not allow them to brown more than a shade. Keep cooking until they are rich and oily, but not watery. Check seasoning.

Grill the bread, rub each side with garlic, and trickle with olive oil or melted butter. Pile a mound of the hot courgette mixture on top, grate over a little cheese, if you like, and serve.

From Talk

Zucchini, I want to like you!

Oh, I forgot! Mario Batali has a recipe for zucchini fritters that I like. They are yummy plain, but also good topped with creme fraiche and smoked salmon.

The Koreans make a pancake with zucchini, scallions, and slivers of hot pepper. Add some seafood (small shrimp, squid, etc) if you like. Cook til super crisp. Slice into wedges or squares. Serve with a soysauce based dipping sauce (soy, vinegar, ground red pepper, pinch of sugar).

The flavor of zucchini is so mild, I find it surprising that it offends anyone.

From Talk

Zucchini, I want to like you!

You know how Bubba Gump goes on and on about shrimp? Well, I kinda have that same affinity for zucchini.

Delicious brushed with olive oil, s& p, then grilled on low heat. Don't let it burn, but get some grill marks. If the zucchini is small (about 6 inches long and about two fingers thick) I just wash, slice down the middle. If it's one of those monsters the size of a small child, then I slice on the diagonal slightly less than half inch thick for grilling.

Tempura-style or a Fritto Misto, with zucchini, sweet onion rings, mushrooms, sliced sweet potato. Fried anything is delicious.

Speaking of fried, at Brio's (probably at Bravo's, too) they have zucchini fries. Zucchini stips breaded and fried, topped with shredded parm and served with marinara. If you don't feel like cooking, go try those. Fried anything is delicious. Did I already say that?

Ratatouille--the version I make is chunky, but I love the elegant looking, thin sliced and arranged in a spiral version that I've seen on some food blogs lately.

Eric Ripart did a super easy zucchini dish recently on his blog. Sliced thin, arrange in a single layer on a baking tray brushed with olive oil or butter, salt, broil, turn, broil, plate, sprinkle with finely grated parmesan.

Asian style--sliced into rounds or half moons, about 1/4 inch thick. On medium, heat a wok or large skillet with a neutral oil. Add minced garlic, sautee briefly, add the zucchini, salt, sautee until the zucchini is nearly done, turning gently during cooking so as not to break up the zucchini too much, then drizzle a little toasted sesame seed oil and a handful of thinly sliced scallion, sautee a minute or two more, then transfer to a shallow serving bowl and garnish with a generous sprinkle of toasted sesame seeds and a few thin slivers of scallions.

I really love zucchini, especially prepared simply like grilling or broiling or sauteeing, with little other than salt as seasoning.