The Link Between Food Choices, Income and Health

A friend sent me this link today, http://www.citylimits.org/slideshow/552/new-york-s-food-basket. It features New York's Food Basket. Four New Yorkers in some of the city's poorest neighborhoods are interviewed at three super markets. The article poignantly portrays the choices that people are making when buying food due to income, size of the family, and health. At a time when the economy is hurting so many people and the Centers for Disease Control is showing that the latest state data reveals continuing high rates of obesity (30 percent or higher in 12 states), it's important to recognize factors that determine how and what people eat. It's going to take a lot more than telling people to eat healthy to solve problems of obesity among adults and children. Just how do you get communities with limited resources to respond broadly to the issue of food, nutrition and health when they're struggling to meet basic needs?

Johnny Cake - A dedication to Granny

Earlier in July I lost a very special person in my life, my aunt, my granny. This is the person who was influential in helping raise me and my siblings when my parents left New York to move to Florida. Granny was one in a long line of aunts who allowed me to hang out in the kitchen and watch them cook. In the summer time I was always at her house during the day and most times were spent with me asking her questions about cooking. My favorite dish that she made was pan fried cornbread. She even left her frying pan with me when she came for a visit to Baltimore.

My last recipe in The Black Family Reunion Cookbook is an ode to Ethel, my Granny. I prepared Johnny Cakes (p. 26) and again, I had to change some things to make this recipe uniquely mine. Since I don't normally purchase milk, I didn't have the sour milk that the recipe called for. So I switched it up and used buttermilk. The recipe called for 1 egg, 1/3 cup sugar and 1 Tablespoon butter flavor Crisco plus 1 teaspoon, I used butter instead. This was combined in a medium bowl where I added 1 cup buttermilk and 1 teaspoon baking soda. I then added 1 cup all-purpose flour, 3/4 cup cornmeal, and 1 teaspoon salt. Stir just until the dry ingredients are moistened. Cover and let stand in a cool place for 30 minutes. I used corn oil to fry the bread.

This recipe was really good. I enjoyed it with my Meatless Monday meal of black beans and rice. I must say, my Granny's recipe was far superior to this one. I think since I spent close to 40 years enjoying her recipe that nothing could really compare. My fondest memories are when I was living in Miami attending school, I would call Granny to let her know that I would be coming through in about an hour to get my cornbread. Without fail, she would have it piping hot off the skillet and I would have my snack to finish my drive to Orlando to visit my mom. These are the best memories and I will always remember the good times at Granny's house.

"The Black Family Reunion Cookbook" - Part 2

It's that Thyme again! The cover of the "The Black Family Reunion Cookbook" has a quote "Strong families and good cooking often go hand-in-hand. This book is a celebration of both." I love this quote but I might add strong families and great friends. For the next recipes I enlisted the help of a very dear friend. Not only do I enjoy cooking, I enjoy cooking with friends and family. Since I don't take the term chef lightly, I would say that I had an excellent Sous Cook helping me in the kitchen. The menu consisted of Shrimp Curry (p. 138), Basmati Rice, and Buttermilk Hush Puppies (p.28).

I always have to put a different spin on my recipes, so this is "Shrimp Curry" remixed. I used 1 pound extra large shrimp, 2 Tbsp lemon juice, 1/4 teaspoon of garlic powder, 1/4 teaspoon of onion powder, and 1/4 teaspoon of cracked pepper. Place shrimp in a non-metal container and pour these ingredients over and allow to stand for 10 minutes. Heat oil in a large skillet, I prefer to use a more flavorful oil so I used 1 Tbsp grapeseed oil and 1 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil. I couldn't resist but I had some fresh churned butter from the Amish Market, so I added 1 Tbsp as well. I added a green pepper (from my own garden), 1/2 yellow onion, and 5 scallions and sauteed. I stirred in 2 Tbsp curry powder. Although the recipe called for 1/2 cup water, I added 1/4 cup water and 1/4 cup dry white wine. Simmer for 15 minutes and then add shrimp. Cook for an additional 15 minutes. This is a very quick recipe, but it is full of flavor.

For the buttermilk hush puppies, I allowed my Sous Cook to prepare this with my supervision. And might I say they did an excellent job. We combined 1 cup yellow cornmeal, 1/2 cup all-purpose flour, 1 1/2 teaspoon baking soda, and 1/2 teaspoon salt. Combine these ingredients in a large bowl. Stir in 1 cup buttermilk, we used fat-free. It seems to be the only kind of buttermilk available in stores. My view is that when you use buttermilk, you aren't really concerned about fat, but I could be wrong. Stir in 1 egg, beaten (from my farm trip) and 1/4 cup finely chopped onions. We fried our hush puppies in corn oil. They were delicious.

This meal was excellent! The best part is enjoying the meal with a friend. The food was excellent and the company wasn't so bad either.

Thyme's Garden 2011

It is that thyme of year again! Gardening thyme! I am a little late on giving the update on my garden this year. Last year was a wonderful year for my garden, there were some hits and misses. This is year three and I am feeling like a pro. There is still a lot to learn and I think I am well above the learning curve. The changes for this year include no longer growing zucchini, squash, and eggplant. I added cucumbers, yellow onions and red onions this year! They all appear to be great additions. Why didn't someone tell me that cucumbers would take over your whole garden. I will have to rethink this for next year. I planted several varieties of tomatoes including lemon boy, big beef, window box roma, and vine tomatoes. The jalapeno peppers did such a good job last year, that I decided to try it again, I planted mammoth jalapeno. This is working well for me. Of course I decided to plant different varieties of peppers including green bell peppers, sweet red peppers and yellow peppers. I also planted thyme, basil, rosemary and Greek oregano. Overall my garden is yielding great results. I seem to be keeping the pests at bay this year. I have tried feeding my garden with an organic feed, and it appears that it is working. My mom loves guacamole. Before she left to return to home after her very long visit, I used tomatoes and jalapenos from the garden to add some color! The guacamole was a hit.

Let's just say, I am enjoying gardening immensely. I feel that my ancestors are pouring their blessings down on me. I come from a family of farmers and I feel that my grandparents, great-grandparents and my dad would be especially proud of me.

"The Black Family Reunion Cookbook"

For the month of July, I will be reviewing "The Black Family Reunion Cookbook", recipes and food memories from the National Council of Negro Women. As you can see, I will be cooking up a storm over the next couple of days to ensure that I get some of the recipes reviewed. I have owned this cookbook for many years and thought it would be a nice cookbook to review. I enjoyed this cookbook because it also includes a section on African American Heritage. It gives information on different African American celebrations and a nice ingredients section that gives definitions of many of the foods we enjoy.

I enjoy cooking all types of cuisine including Caribbean, Indian, Italian and Creole. I am always looking forward to mastering new cuisine. Next up, Asian, more specifically, Thai food. I have always enjoyed southern cuisine. Although I was born in New York, both of my parents have southern roots, South Carolina and Southern Georgia. I grew up in Florida surrounded by my cooking aunts. I learned a lot from them in terms of southern cooking so there was never a need to explore a cookbook on southern cuisine. The recipes that I will choose will be those that are nice for eating in the summer heat.

This cookbook contained many of the same recipes I grew up cooking with my aunts and mother. The recipe I chose was Jasmine's Party Tuna Salad (p. 48). Since my family was visiting and we were attending a reggae festival at a winery, I wanted something cool to eat. The recipe was simple, but it was prepared different from how I normally make tuna salad.

I tend to use recipes for inspiration. They inspire me to be creative. Reminder, there are some changes from the original recipe. My rendition of "Jasmine's Party Tuna Salad". I used 2 cups whole grain elbow macaroni, 3 hard boiled eggs, 2 cans tuna packed in water, 1 cup mayonnaise, 1/2 cup sweet pickle relish, 2 Tbsp mustard, 2 Tbsp grated Parmesan cheese, garlic powder, onion powder, ground black pepper and paprika for garnish. Just a reminder, since for me cooking is a family affair, I had some spectators. My sister loves sweet pickle relish, so she kept saying "a little bit more". After she said it around 5 times we were up from the 1/4 cup sweet pickle relish to the 1/2 cup that I used in the recipe. The eggs were special because I spent a week on the farm of a friend in Michigan and they were the last of the eggs I collected from the chickens that week.

I am not a taster, as a matter of fact, I rarely taste the food I cook until I am sitting down ready to enjoy. I often rely on tasters for this job. My dad was my taster on most occasions, and oh how I miss him. My sister is my new taster, for starters, she is the spitting image of my dad, and secondly, she is a great taster just like he was. The recipe turned out great! My guests enjoyed it so much that on the way home from the reggae festival, I had to make a stop at the store and purchase 4 cans of tuna, this would allow for twice as much of "Jasmine's Party Tuna Salad". This was a nice cool salad and made our day listening to reggae even better. I am looking forward to next Thyme!

Last June Entry 2011

I am at my "real" job in a far away place this week. After a long day's research meeting, I had dinner alone, but not so alone because I shared my table with huge ants crawling over the bamboo-inspired table and chairs and a mosquito so big that I saw him lingering on the top of one of the chartuese-colored chairs directly across from me! Needless to say I was inspired to not linger too long and drink my glass of white wine and eat my broiled Tilapia fillet with slightly blanched broccoli, cauliflower and carrots, topped off with 3 small samosas - one vegetable and two beef!! Headed to bed. Meeting starts at 7:30 in the morning! This is Hot Pepper signing off for the month of June. Next month is Thyme's time.

Vegetable Flowers

For those master gardeners, please excuse this novice. I'm just in awe of my little garden and everyday is a revelation. This morning when I had my garden meditation - yes, that's what I call it - it dawned on me that vegetables have flowers! My eggplant's flower has yellow petals with a purple center. Squash has gorgeous blossoms that open into huge yellow flowers. I should have picked those blossoms and cooked them; maybe next time. Yellow flowers sprout along my trailing cucumber vine. Even my banana and Thai hot peppers and basil have petite white flowers.

I truly can see now why gardening is so educational. You see the nature of plants for food spring forth, bit by bit. Glorious!!