Pee-ca-DEE-yo! First of all, it’s just fun to say. Secondly, if I would’ve thought there was a way I could eat a version of the typically meat-centric Cuban cuisine back in my vegetarian days, I would have been beyond thrilled. So, years after I couldn’t eat another plate of black beans and yellow rice, I took to the kitchen…and my Omnivore’s Picadillo was born.
There is something about the power of three. Many cultures have their own trinity: a combination of three ingredients that serve as the backbone for building flavor in their dishes. In Creole/Cajun cooking, the Holy Trinity is a combination of onion, celery and bell peppers. The version in French cooking is called mirepoix and is made up of onion, carrot and celery. In Spain, their sofrito is typically comprised of garlic, onions and tomato.
I have discovered my own trinity of sorts which blends my cooking world and my medical world: ginger, lemon and honey. Instead of building flavors for a dish, I’m using them to build my immune system. As we are in the throes of cold and flu season, these three ingredients are the basis for a more natural way of managing the miserable-feeling symptoms that a virus can cause.
Yes, you read that correctly: 2018; and yes…I am a year late. I really enjoy looking back over the past year and summarizing it all in a ‘farewell to the year’ post. It’s just unfortunate that I only realized now that last year’s piece never made it to print. So many amazing things happened last year, I would be remiss to not give it the proper attention it deserved. Here is 2018 in a nutshell, and then be on the lookout for my 2019 post!
For week three of salad month, I’m talking one of my favorite traditional—with lettuce—salads: Columbia Restaurant’s 1905 Salad.
Years ago, St. Petersburg had a Columbia on the third floor of our inverted Pier building: our city’s landmark. The 360-degree view of downtown and Tampa Bay made for the most picturesque place to lunch in the ‘Burg; enjoying traditional Cuban food while watching the dolphins and boats pass by was icing on the cake. And, although I tried many of the menu items at one point or another, my lunch there was always the same: the ‘half and half combo’ with the 1905 salad, gazpacho and some of the best iced tea around. The warm, individual loaf of Cuban bread that came out shortly after your drink arrived was the highlight of the meal–no sharing required.
Alright, so I have waxed poetic long enough. Sadly, the old Pier building was demolished and a new replacement is being built as we speak. I have not heard any talk of Columbia claiming a space at our new pier…sigh. For the record, I realize that there are five other Columbias in the state that I can visit, including the original location in Ybor City; but, not having one so close has been killing me.
Cauliflower is everywhere! You may have seen it riced, mashed, buffaloed, sliced as a ‘steak’ and transformed into a crust. Cauliflower is the new ‘it’ veg for not only vegetarians and vegans alike, but also for anyone following the keto diet. It adds creaminess without dairy and its texture replaces flour in some recipes and the need for pasta in others.
This white cruciferous cousin of broccoli has always been one of my favorites, but I only ate it on the side of something else; I had no idea of its versatility of being a standalone entree. After a trip to Trader Joe’s, I found a cauliflower tabbouleh that was tasty, but a little on the oily side. For week two of salad month, cue my favorite tabbouleh recipe with a brand new twist…
I lived in Pittsburgh as a child and one of the things we looked forward to this time of year was Mama’s corn. Once summer arrived, a little farm stand called Mama’s sat at the top of the hill near my grandparents’ house. From the second it opened every season, it overflowed with the sweetest corn you could sink your teeth into. As soon as the public swimming pools and Dairy Queens opened their doors Memorial Day weekend, the next question on our lips was, “Is Mama’s open yet?”
“Better late than never,” I always say, and in this case, it’s especially late. As if Christmastime wasn’t busy enough, I accepted a new job just after the holidays. After being a stay-at-home mom for the last nine years, there were a million and one things on my to-do list before I started work. Unfortunately, this post on my 2017 Christmas Cookies had to take the backseat. You’ve heard of Christmas in July events…well, I’m celebrating Christmas in July with cookies! Here is my post written—but never published—from back in December…
Happy summer and welcome back to My Veg Table! I’m enjoying my first summer off after going back to work. I took a job back in January as a school nurse, so life has been hectic; I’m glad to have some time now to catch up on posting and cooking again—the timing is perfect. I love everything about summer eating: grilling, picnics, watermelon, pie, and lemonade for days. My favorite produce pops up this time of year, too: berries, melons, corn and stone fruits are taking over my kitchen counter. Another fruit I get excited to see alongside the dragon fruit and plantains is the mamey sapote. If you have never seen or heard of this popular Latin fruit, you are not alone. I met a woman in the grocery store last year and she had never heard of it, either: an interesting conversation ensued…
Change is necessary. Change is inevitable. Change is scary…
The discussion of change almost seems a contradiction: how can something so normal and ever-present bring about such anxiety and stress? Change means evolving: evolving into something different–and hopefully–something better. Many look to a new year as a time of welcome changes: a new diet, a new fitness routine, maybe even a new relationship. For me, change comes in the form of a new job. After 9 years of being a stay-at-home mom, I’m going back to work. I’ve kept my toes wet in the nursing pool for the past 5 years, so I’m not completely rusty; but nevertheless, I am both excited and anxious at the thought of re-starting this chapter of my life. My biggest challenge will be finding a new kind of balance; one that coexists with a full time job.
Another transition has slowly been taking place over the past year: I have altered my diet to include meat and fish again. I was a vegetarian for six years and for much of that time, I felt better than I ever had. But gradually over the past year and a half, I haven’t felt the same: I’ve almost felt…imbalanced. I started gradually adding back those things I omitted all those years ago and started to notice differences: subtle at first, and then quite obvious. Not much else has changed–except now I like a little meat on the side of my veggies…
Let’s be honest: it’s hard to make pea soup look pretty; fortunately, its flavor makes up for any aesthetic shortcomings. Sweet peas, tender carrots–and if you wish to include smoky, salty ham–make for a hearty meal: just in time for sweater weather. Paired with a fresh biscuit or cornbread, you might just feel as though you have been transported to a ski lodge cafe, as you warm your belly and watch the snow fall.
Campbell’s Chunky Split Pea with Ham soup takes me back to my childhood; after all, Chunky is “soup that eats like a meal”, right? Soup was often a meal for my family; we enjoyed cozying up to a big bowl when winter began to creep in–perfect for a snowy day. Although I have to enjoy my soup sans snow these days, I still love the visions that come flooding back. Food memories are powerful things: they can range from spectacularly good to fantastically awful: you may wax poetically about a particular food for decades or be tainted forever by a bad experience. Food shapes who we become, as do the memories that accompany them.
