Hungry Goddess

I LOVE LOVE LOVE Down Home With the Neelys.  Seeing a Black couple on the Food Network gave me so much excitement.  Don’t get me wrong, Emeril is the man (Guy Fieri is too) but to have a food network and not one Black cooking show? Really, son? The way my people get down in the kitchen. Anyway, that’s neither here nor there.

I caught one show last week. The name… oh! It was the “Hometown Favorites” episode.  Two of the dishes made were Buttermilk Baked Chicken and Roasted Broccoli and Feta Salad.  It looked delicious on television so I decided to hook it up at home.

It turned out pretty tasty.  There was a nice crunch with a bit of tang to it.  Maybe the tang was the Parmesan cheese… or the buttermilk marinade.  I baked it for the suggested time and it didn’t cook all the way through.  My meat has to be DONE… so I put it back in the oven for another 30 minutes. Perfect.

The salad was easy.  I used “cherub” tomatoes. That’s what the packaging said. Roasted, they were sweet and succulent.  Feta cheese was kind of hard to find at Walmart and I was on a time schedule so I grabbed a shredded Italian blend. Also, I grabbed a half spinach, half herb and lettuce mix for the greenery. It came out divine.

The one thing I have to master is having everything prepped when I get in the kitchen. It takes me much longer to cook than it takes for the hosts of cooking shows.  Maybe I need to hire some prep people. What do you think?

Looking for a over fried chicken recipe with tons of flavor? Try this recipe. Add spices you like. Throw a twist on it. Let me know how it turns out.

Divine eating, The Hungry Goddess

If you follow me on Twitter than you know I am about my health. Now I do have days where I eat unhealthy but I like to think I try very hard to eat right. Yesterday while doing chair massage for a chiropractor I know at the Nappiology Expo in Arlington, TX (I was the sista with the red flower in her hair), I was given a jar of Queen Afua’s Green Life. The ingredients are: Wheatgrass, Spiruliina, Lecithin, and Psyllium Husk. It calls for 1 tablespoon in juice three times a day. I tried it with water. I can see WHY it says drink with juice. The taste isn’t bad, it’s just very green if green has a taste. Want to try this? I suggest you do. It doesn’t have to be Queen Afua’s (although I do support her… iSupport Black Businesses besides this jar was FREE.99). I’m sure GNC and stores of the like sell chlorophyll. BUY YOU SOME JUICE and not that sugar mess. REAL FRUIT JUICE!!!  This will be an acquired taste. According to Queen Afua’s book, Heal Thyself, once your body is cleansed, you will be able to better handle chlorophyll and take in larger amounts of it. Maybe I should save the rest of this for after the detox my best friend and I are supposed to go on at the beginning of 2011. *shrug* Maybe I’ll just buy some more.

Tonight I decided to make Jamaican Jerk Shrimp.  I had been thinking about it for a couple of weeks and chose to do it today.  Instead of ordering in food, I got my ingredients together and got busy!  The result…

Sweet and spicy (cleared a sista’s sinuses) goodness. I love Jerk chicken, so it was only natural that I’d love this, too.  I followed a recipe (http://www.eatingwell.com/recipes/jamaican_jerk_shrimp_pineapple_salad.html) for the marinade, steamed some brown rice, and sauteed half of red onions with a half of a green pepper and… ta-da!!! Almost cooked plantains to go with it…changed my mind. Maybe with my next Caribbean dish. P.S. I LOVE Caribbean food.

I went grocery shopping this morning. And while strolling the aisles of my neighborhood grocery store all I could think about were cupcakes… Cupcakes that I may very well venture out to get tomorrow. Anyway, trying to be good, I said to myself, “Self, sorbet would be soooooo much healthier than cupcakes. AND you have three cupcake flavors in mind….AND you know you plan on eating all three TONIGHT. Let’s see what we can find.” I turn down the ice cream aisle and instantly notice a peach flavored sorbet by Haagen Dazs. I love everything peach; sparkling water, peach cobbler, peach Jolly Ranchers, etc. Got this baby home and after fighting myself on whether or not to have an extra piece of chicken (I chose NOT to be greedy), I decided to taste my new treat. The Hungry Goddess gives this a big “MMMMMMM”.  Flavor was on point. Texture was smooth Idris Elba’s chocolaty brown skin. This was goodness in a pint and no fat. Even noticed that vitamins A and C were present for the party in my tummy. Love…this is.