Breakfast Spaghetti!

Bacon, eggs, maple syrup and spaghetti!

I love pasta, but don’t eat it as much as I want due to Mr. Inappropriate’s gluten sensitivity. But he can have spelt noodles and he loves bacon and eggs, and can't shut up about bacon on maple bars, so I came up with this recipe.

12 ounces turkey bacon ("real" bacon is also good)
3 quarts boiling water
spaghetti or pasta (enough for 4, I used spelt but I bet angel hair would be awesome!)
4 eggs
¼ cup half and half or cream
½ large onion, diced
1 tablespoon butter or olive oil
1 teaspoon crushed garlic or 2-3 cloves minced
¼ cup butter, melted
½ cup maple syrup
salt and pepper to taste
¼ - ½ cup cheese, Parmesan is best, but I used cheddar this time
  

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Put aluminum foil on a cookie sheet, then cut turkey bacon into 1 inch pieces. Spread over the cookie sheet and bake for 10-15 minutes until crisp. Remove and let cool.

Put 3 quarts of water on to boil, then dice the onion.

Brown onion in 1 tablespoon of butter or olive oil in a large skillet or dutch oven over medium heat for 3-4 minutes. Add the garlic and brown for an additional 2 minutes. Remove browned onion and garlic from pan. 
Crack the eggs into a bowl and add ¼ cup of cream, salt, and pepper. Whip air into the egg mixture and set aside.

Your water should be boiling by now, so cook the pasta according to package directions.
Melt the ¼ cup of butter in the pan you used to brown the onions and garlic. Mix in maple syrup and increase heat to medium.

Once the pasta is cooked and drained, dump it into the melted butter and maple syrup large skillet and mix. Pour the egg mixture over the pasta. Do not stir. Turn off the heat.

Add the onion/garlic mixture and the bacon to the top of the pasta. Look for the egg mixture to set up a bit, like scrambled eggs. Then you can stir it all together. You can let it sit, covered for the flavors to meld or just dish it up right away. Then sprinkle on as much cheese as you dare. It serves 4-6 people.  I think this makes a great Sunday night meal or possibly brunch.

 

As a naturopath, I recommend adding a green vegetable to this meal, but don’t if that will spoil it for you.

It’s A Hot One! Homemade Ginger Ale

Today the forecast is for 88 degrees and no chance of rain with sunny skies here on the North Oregon Coast! This is such a rare thing for us, I almost revel in it! Our high is usually 65 degrees with 60 percent chance of rain.
So we’ve buttoned up the house so we won’t get too hot, because no air conditioning here! I decided to make something cool to drink, my favorite: homemade ginger ale!  Ginger is a great digestive herb, as well as anti-inflammatory.  It rarely has side effects, although there are some cautions about ingesting a lot of ginger and taking blood thinners.
I have a iSi soda siphon to make carbonated water, so there is no fermentation involved, I just have to make the ginger syrup.

I found and adapted this recipe from the website    HerbCare.
You need:
4 cups of water
4 or 5 inches fresh ginger
4 packets of NuStevia white stevia powder
2 tablespoons vanilla extract
1 tablespoon lemon extract

Bring the water to boil in a small saucepan. Peel ginger and cut into chunks and chop with the food processor or by hand into fine pieces. (Sorry, I didn't get a picture of me peeling and chopping the ginger. You can see from the picture below, I pretty much mince the ginger.) Add the ginger and stevia, reduce the heat to low, and simmer gently for 8 to 10 minutes.

Strain the liquid into a heatproof container, then stir in vanilla and lemon extracts. 

Cover and refrigerate. Once the syrup is cool you can fill a glass with ice, pour in about ⅓ to ½ glass of the ginger syrup and fill the rest of the glass up with carbonated water. I like my ginger ale kind of strong, so I use ½ ginger ale syrup to ½ water.

I have substituted other sweeteners such as maple syrup or honey, but those made it too sweet for me. (If you like it sweeter, then do use maple syrup, honey or increase the stevia.)  I have used fresh lemon juice previously, but it didn’t taste the way I wanted it to taste.

What’s your favorite cool summer drink?
Cheers!

Hiyashi Chuka or Cold Ramen Salad

Now that we are in to August, I feel like I need a cool, refreshing main dish that's not too difficult to make.  I first had Hiyashi Chuka in Japan over 20 years ago.  I've made it many times and my sister requests I make it whenever I visit her in the summer.
I usually use ramen noodles but you can use Chinese egg noodles if you wish.  Once you have the noodles, you can pretty much put whatever vegetables that you like or have around, into the mix.  Here's what I made last week.

Ingredients:

2 packages of ramen noodles
1/2 pound roast beef   (You could use ham, chicken, turkey, etc.) Cut into strips.
1/2 English cucumber, cut into match sticks
2 eggs
1 teaspoon sugar
1/2 cup corn
1/2 cup grated carrots
sliced green onion (I like lots, adjust to taste.)

For dressing:
3 tablespoons rice wine vinegar
2 tablespoons soy sauce
3 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon roasted sesame oil
My original recipe calls for 1/3 cup water in this dressing, but I like the strong taste of it without the water.

You may want hot yellow mustard (karashi) and or beni shoga (pickled red ginger) but I did not have it on hand this time.


First, you want to make the egg.  Beat eggs in a bowl and add sugar, then mix well.  Heat some oil in a small frying pan and pour 1/4 to 1/2 the egg mixture over the pan.  Spread the egg thinly, like a crepe, and fry for one minute. Turn and cook for about 30 seconds more.  Take out of the pan and place on cutting board to cool.  Repeat with the rest of the egg mixture. Slice the crepe into thin strips.

Make the dressing by mixing all the dressing ingredients together.  Usually I put it in a container with a lid and just shake it.

Put your noodle water on to boil.  For two people's amount of ramen, you will need a medium large pot, around 3 quarts.

As the water is heating, cut up your meat and vegetables into strips, slices or grated, as above in the ingredient list.  You can arrange it all nicely on a platter if you want those you are cooking for to place their own ingredients on the noodles.

Once the water is boiling, cook your noodles according to package directions and drain.  Pour cold water over them quickly to cool them and let them drain again. 

Put the cold noodles on a plate, arrange toppings on top and pour dressing over the noodles just before serving.

This recipe feeds two very hungry people or four not so hungry people.