Jimmie's Collage » cooking

Cookbook Review: Healthy French Cuisine for Less Than $10 a Day

Jimmie — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 15:12:00 +0000

Salmon and Leek Wrap

I don’t think I’ve ever shared it before, but my very first teaching job included one class of high school French 1. Admittedly, my French was extremely poor, but I would study hard each night for my lessons so that I always stayed one step ahead of the students. It was tremendously rewarding to take them from nothing to some basic French over the course of a year.

Well, eight years in China pushed every bit of French right out of my brain. Even when I try to speak French, it comes out as Mandarin. Obviously the “Mandarin files” wrote over the old “French files” in the brain. (Has that experience happened to any of you? You try to mentally access a foreign language and you come up with the wrong one?)

That background is simply to explain why I was so eager to try out Chef Alain Braux’s cookbook Healthy French Cuisine for Less Than $10/Day. I remember learning about the European style of eating and cooking. It was always intriguing but so vastly different from the American South’s way that I couldn’t really appreciate it. Fruit for dessert? Fish and seafood several times a week? Soup before each meal? No way!

Dark Chocolate Prune & Date Truffles

Well, after eight years in China, my tastes in food have changed so much that I now am ready for some “Frenchie food” as my family calls it. The author of the book is Chef Alain, a French chef who lives in Texas. His cookbook blends the best of traditional French food with modern nutrition. The result is a kitchen reference that inspires and instructs.

Unlike most cookbooks that are primarily recipes, about half of Healthy French Cuisine for Less Than $10/Day is devoted to a discussion of nutrition, buying food in season, money saving tips, and cooking techniques. The premise of the cookbook is that buying fresh foods in season is not only healthy but frugal. Absolutely!

I learned this truth in China where most of our foods were locally grown. That means they were supremely fresh, very affordable, and highly nutritious. Since returning to America, I have chosen to buy most of my fruits and vegetables at a produce store where the selections include local and seasonal foods.

The recipes are divided into winter, spring, summer, and fall with dishes that feature the foods of each season. Of course, you can skip around and cook the summer dishes in the winter if you choose, but the ingredients will likely cost more and will not be as healthy as using the produce that is in season at the time.

The recipes are frugal but elegant. Here are some examples.

Maple-Chili Glazed Pork

: Ingredients for Maple-Chili Glazed Pork

As you can see, the ingredients are things you normally would have on hand, but the combination of flavors made for a unique meal. At Chef’s suggestion, I sauteed frozen green beans in the sauce leftover from the chops. It was delicious! My husband gave this two thumbs up. (Sprite did not eat with us that night.)

Pork Chops in an Iron Skillet

Pork Chops and Green Beans

Shrimp with Ginger and Lime

I admit that Sprite adores shrimp and my husband is not crazy about it. They both liked this recipe as much as I expected. Hubs said it was good, but didn’t ask for seconds. Sprite devoured all that was left in the pan.

Fire Roasted Tomato Soup

I have never liked tomato soup. And now I know why — all I had ever experienced was Campbells canned tomato soup. Chef Alain’s tomato soup is amazing. I have discovered that I do like tomato soup when it is made from scratch.

ingredients

As you can see, this recipe takes the shortcut of using canned tomatoes. It’s easy, and the payoff is huge with a homemade soup that is full of nourishing vitamins.

fire roasted tomato souop

Here is Sprite taste testing the salmon and leek wraps pictured at the top of this post. (I had never used phylo dough until making this recipe. It was fun to try something totally new.)

Success! She loved it!

Chef Alain’s cookbook has reinforced my commitment to eat frugal and healthy foods in season.

You can find Chef Alain at Healthy Chef Recipes where he offers a free ebook for signing up to receive his latest post updates. He’s also at Twitter @ChefAlain.

Who will like this book

1. Cooks with a modest amount of cooking experience

Although Chef Alain discusses some basic cooking techniques, the recipes assume an certain level of expertise in the kitchen. There are no diagrams to help you understand exactly how to fold the phylo dough to make a wrap, for example. There are no photos of the finished dishes, so you need to use your imagination to envision how the completed recipe will turn out.

2. Cooks who want to try new ingredients

I didn’t find the ingredients to be terrible strange, but there are a handful of recipes that call for something I’ve never heard of or don’t have on hand. Personally, I enjoy hunting for a new ingredient and trying it out in a new dish.

3. Cooks who are looking for gluten-free options.

Almost every singe recipe in the book has adaptations for making it gluten free and casein free (GFCF).

4. Cooks who want encouragement to shop frugally and cook healthy

Chef Alain’s healthy eating philosophy is the basis for all the recipes, so they all reinforce thrifty and nutritious cooking habits.

More By Chef Alain

My friend Rachel at Finding Joy has reviewed another cookbook by Chef Alain, Living Gluten and Dairy-Free with French Gourmet Food: A Practical Guide. She, too, is giving away a copy a cookbook, so be sure to visit her review for a chance to win the gluten free guide. Her post is called The Awesome Gluten Free Cookbook Review and Giveaway.

Giveaway Rules (contest is closed)

Chef Alain has allowed me to choose one winner who will receive a copy of Healthy French Cuisine for Less Than $10/Day. You must be 18 or older,have a USA mailing address and an email address to win this giveaway. I’ll select a winner on November 30. You will have 48 hours to respond to the notification email before another winner is chosen.

~~Please leave a comment here to enter. Tell me which one of Chef Alain’s recipes you would like to try. (Remember to visit Healthy Chef Recipes for more of his food.)~~

For an additional entry, tweet this contest post and include @ChefAlain in your tweet.

Suggested Tweet: Win Frugal French Cooking by @ChefAlain. ADD LINK here @jimmiescollage

~~Link to the tweet here for the second entry. (Click on the date or time of the tweet to get its permalink.)~~

Disclosure

In exchange for my honest review, I received a free copy of Healthy French Cuisine for Less Than $10/Day and was compensated for my time to use the cookbook, to write this review and to host the giveaway. This post expresses my own truthful opinion about the cookbook.

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Product Review & Giveaway –The Dish Mat: An Alternative to Dish Drainers

Jimmie — Fri, 14 Oct 2011 19:00:17 +0000

I left my double decker dish drainer in China and got a dishwasher here in America! That was a great exchange to say the least.

Despite having the automatic dishwasher, I still seem to hand wash a lot of items — my wooden spoons, good knives, kitchen scissors, large cutting boards, pots and pans. So I’m stuck with an ugly plastic dish drainer on the counter.

No longer.

I am now a convert to the dish mat. I have three of these; I love them that much!

[ Are you jealous of my cast iron skillet? It is jealousy worthy. What a blessing -- a hand-me-down from a friend at church. It was his mother's, and he gave it to me when she passed away. It's been used for probably forty years, so it's seasoned to perfection. I love it. And you know it can't go into the dishwasher.]

The dish mat is visually unobtrusive. And when it’s physically in the way, I can fold it up or put it into a drawer. Try doing that with a dish drainer!

Besides serving as a dish mat, I use it while I’m working in the kitchen for several other uses. It works fantastically as a fruit and veggie mat after I wash the produce. No more puddles of water all over the counter. The dish mat absorbs it all. No more fruit rolling off the counter. The foam center of the dish mat gives the fruit a tad of cushion that keeps it from rolling around.

I also use it to soak up the water from thawing packages of meat, like the fish fillets you see pictured here.

Somehow this mat is constructed to wick away the moisture. I washed two glasses and placed them top down on the mat, no tilt, no air getting in. I wondered if they would retain moisture inside and need to be wiped before putting them away. Nope. Dry inside and out the next morning. (Yes, I leave clean dishes out overnight, don’t you?)

Another huge advantage of the dish mats over a conventional dish drainer is how easy they are to clean. I despise how a dish drainer gets a brown film on the bottom. It’s not an easy thing to wash because of all the crevices. The dish mats go straight into the washer with the towels.

I’ve washed my mats several times already, and they always come out of the washer and dryer looking brand new. I learned that these dish mats are specially constructed with a layer of foam sandwiched between two layers of microfiber. The three layers are actually fused together so that the mat can be repeatedly washed and dried without the layers separating.

You can purchase these online at Garden Botanika or in retail stores Walmart and Dollar General. You need to know that the discount stores’ dish mats are available only in the tan color, and the texture of the mat is a terry cloth weave rather than a waffle weave. You can see the differences in the photo above. The sage green is the one you buy online. The tan one is for sale at discount stores. The Garden Botanika version is more attractive and feels a bit more quality, but they work the same. The differences seem to be merely aesthetic.

Giveaway

On Thursday, Oct. 20, I will choose three different winners to receive a 16×18 inch, gray dish mat.

How to Enter

1. REQUIRED: Simply leave a comment here, telling me what feature of the dish mat sounds most appealing to you.

2. OPTIONAL: For an extra entry, tweet this contest at Twitter, using the hashtag #dishmat. (If you use the Tweet This button at the top or bottom of this post, you will need to manually add that hashtag.) Please post an additional comment letting me know that you tweeted it.

Not a fan of gray?

Well, there are a total of eleven bloggers doing dish mat reviews and giveaways. Enter each giveaway to increase your chances of winning or to find that prefect color match for your kitchen. (See all the colors online at Garden Botanika.)

A Slob Comes Clean –Coastal Blue
Spell Outloud — Coastal Blue
Many Little Blessings –Sage Green
Finding Joy — Sage Green
Weird Unsocialized Homeschoolers — Gray
Raising Arrows –Red
Feels Like Home –Red
An Oregon Cottage — Cream
Mama’s Learning Corner — Black
Crispy Not Crunchy — Black

The Fine Print

RULES: Prizes can be shipped only to continental US addresses. You will be contacted by email and must reply within 48 hours to claim your prize. If you do not claim your prize, another winner will be chosen.

DISCLAIMER: I received free dish mats and was compensated for my time to write this review and to organize this giveaway. (But I already owned a dish mat which I purchased at Dollar General before I was contacted to hold this giveaway. My first review is here.)

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Meal Planning for Well-Ordered Days

Jimmie — Thu, 01 Sep 2011 03:00:21 +0000

This post is part of the blog link-up Well Ordered Days: Honoring God in the Details.

Meal planning makes a huge difference in our lifestyle and helps my home to be well-ordered. It might seem like a small thing, but it impacts so many aspects of home life.

1. Meal Planning is Good for the Budget

Planning your meals means you buy what you need based on a list. Impulse buys are decreased because you are searching for the things on the list rather than browsing the aisle for inspiration.

When I plan well, I make fewer trips to the store. That saves gas and, again, prevents those impulse buys.

With a plan, I can factor in leftovers, slotting them for lunches or dinners later in the week. That means there is less waste — less money thrown away.

Without a plan, there is sometimes a temptation to eat out which we all know is a budget killer. Eating out deliberately because you want to and can afford to is a glorious thing. But eating out because there’s nothing to eat at home makes me feel really guilty.

2. Meal Planning is Good for Time Management

The initial investment of meal planning pays off richly in the absence of dumbly staring into a pantry or freezer wondering what would be good to prepare. Planning your week’s meals truly saves time in the long run.

Because you have a plan, you also don’ t have to worry about “what’s for dinner?” You can devote yourself to your homeschooling or other creative tasks wholeheartedly without the threat of dinner hanging over your head. (Of course, you do have to actually cook the meals. The plan doesn’t do that part for you. I have been known to become engrossed in a project and forget to cook.)

3. Meal Planning is Good for Our Health

When you make a weekly menu, you can look at the overall picture of nutrition. Are we getting a variety of vegetables and fruits? Are our carbohydrates limited and spread out over the course of the week? Is there a run of junk food due to eating at church events or travel that I need to offset with a super-healthy dinner of salmon and spinach salad? (Fortunately, my family loves that meal.)

If the meals aren’t written down, it’s easy to assume you’re eating healthy. But with a written plan, you can clearly see the reality of your diet.

Meal Planning Tips

Do plan both main dish and side dishes (and desserts).
Do take your menu when you go grocery shopping or create your shopping list based on the menu.
Do write down when you will be eating out.
Do plan for leftovers (if you usually have them) in the week’s meals.

I still shop the sales, stocking up on items when they are at their cheapest prices, especially meats. The beauty of a well stocked kitchen is that I can begin my meal plans with what I already have. In fact, I normally jot down what frozen meats are in the freezer before I even begin my weekly meal plan. I try to make meals around those options before buying regular priced meats. Using what’s in the freezer also prevents forgotten foods being wasted due to freezer burn.

I use an attractive meal planning sheet just because it makes me happy. You can use boring paper if you like, but if a pretty grid motivates you, I think it’s worth the printer ink.

The Project Girl (this is my favorite one)
Money Saving Mom
5 Dollar Dinners

I make a very flexible plan. Although my meal planning page indicates the days of the week, I flip meals around if I’m not in the mood to cook or eat something.

I plan my meals with my regular calendar in front of me. If I know a certain day will be hectic, I plan for a dinner with less preparation time. But if I know I’ll be home all day, I go for the more elaborate meal. If there is advance preparation to be done (soaking beans, setting up the crockpot, allowing a dessert to set overnight) I indicate that on my meal plan so I don’t forget.

How many of my readers make regular meal plans? If you do, I’d like to know how strict or flexible they are.

Be sure to visit all of the Well Ordered Days blog posts and add your own if you’d like to join in the theme. Just click on the image below.

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Homemade Apricot Yeasted Coffeecake

Jimmie — Fri, 05 Aug 2011 13:49:07 +0000

How does that look? That’s my apricot coffeecake. Actually I’m not sure if I should call it a pastry or coffeecake or bread. I can honestly say that it’s delicious, though!

This pastry has three parts:

Dough

Just use your standard sweet yeast dough recipe. What you use for cinnamon rolls or dinner rolls will work. I used about half whole wheat flour plus a generous sprinkling of ground flax seed.

Apricot filling

I had fresh apricots which I pitted, roughly chopped, and cooked with a minute amount of water and sugar until it was a thick paste, similar to baby food. I also got a bit sneaky and put in about 3/4 cup of pureed carrots. Actually, they cut the tartness of the apricots, enriched the bright orange color, and added some healthy sweetness. The carrot was a real stroke of serendipity!

Cream cheese filling

A had a package of partially eaten cream cheese (80% there) to which I added confectioners sugar, some flour, half an egg (save the other half for later), and a bit of vanilla.

My cream cheese layer virtually disappeared after baking, so next time I would use two entire packages.

I rolled my dough into large rectangles and placed it onto a baking sheet.

Then I spread on the cream cheese filling.

Then I added the fruit filling and cut my dough into strips on the side. I like to use kitchen scissors for that.

Then I wrap the strips, alternating sides (like making a calzone) to enclose the filling in the dough.

I brushed the pastry with beaten egg, and baked it.

Voila! I made two huge pastries, so there was lots to share with guests and my dear mom. Sprite was a bit miffed about the secret ingredient — carrots– but she liked the pastry anyway. Everyone who tasted it said it was delicious.

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International Creamy Strawberry Pie

Jimmie — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 04:03:42 +0000

Meet Strawberry Bavarian Pie, an international miracle.

Local strawberries, butter imported from New Zealand, digestive crackers (graham crackers) imported from Spain, and Rich’s non-dairy whip(ped) topping from China.

Yes, the recipe calls for uncooked egg whites. What can I say? We live on the wild side. Sometimes you’ve got to take risks in the name of delicious desserts.

When we saw digestive crackers in our city at not one but two supermarkets, I did a little jig! I quickly introduced Sprite to the joy of s’mores. Then came the pie crusts. Although I can’t buy cream here, this whip topping works fine. Thank goodness my hand mixer is still holding out. I know it’s on its last legs, but it performed beautifully for this pie. I can’t remember the last time I had a graham cracker pie crust or any kind of creamy pie. The family was most impressed.

Beautiful Bagels

Jimmie — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 04:20:15 +0000

Aren’t they lovely? Homemade bagels — sesame, poppy seed, and cinnamon sugar. I used this WONDERFUL recipe at Savory Seasonings, a huge improvement on my former recipe. These are softer and puffier.

Do you know what’s the most beautiful part of this photo?

The most beautiful part is the fact that there are three bags of them, in heavy duty plastic zipper top bags ready to go into the freezer. Before Christmas, my dear husband dug into his “stash” and spent all his “mad money” on a freezer for me.

It wasn’t even a Christmas gift. It was an I-know-you-need-this-to-make-your-life-easier gift. Now that’s a romantic gift, ladies! (Although, let’s be honest, he’s really going to benefit from the stocking up on good things to eat. Love ya, HB.)

I’ve had it about four weeks, and I’ve been steadily working on filling it up. Well, a full freezer holds the cold better in case of power outage, you know. So I really MUST fill it up. (wink) We truly never know when our power (or water) will go off.

It’s a small chest freezer. I guess I should share a photo, but the bagels are so much prettier.

Okay, I found a photo of it. Look here. (This is basically Chinese Ebay.) It looks exactly like that — para sailing mascot and all. (Plain things are considered ugly in China. So everything has to have designs, flowers, children, crazy English. Makes me crazy.)

Wondering what I’ve got in there so far?

white beans, cooked from dry — probably 20 bags
pumpkin puree, cooked from fresh — 6 bags
chicken broth
beef and bean pockets
broccoli, chicken, and cheese pockets
2 pizzas
2 loaves of banana bread
fried apple pies
bagels (of course)
beef with mushrooms in a hearty broth
cream of mushroom soup (homemade, of course)
chicken in broth
ground beef (which I ground)
bulk pork sausage (homemade from pork I ground)
cheese (from Big City)
butter (from Big City)
shelled walnuts
popsicles

Do you have a chest (or upright) freezer? Any tips for me? What’s your favorite thing to store in there? I’m a total freezer newbie, so bring on the ideas for me and my para sailing buddy.

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Baking Bug

Jimmie — Sun, 26 Jul 2009 13:37:02 +0000

Do any of you get the baking bug and spend hours on hours in the kitchen working? I did it again this morning– three loaves of wheat bread, a veggie quiche, and a chocolate pie (sprinkled with almonds). I use this oil pie crust.

But what a reward for my labor to have fresh bread to eat and one loaf in the freezer. A hearty breakfast is ready to heat and eat, and we were able to spontaneously invite a group of friends over for dessert tonight. And that’s the best reason to cook on a weekend morning — I’m prepared for evening hospitality.

By the way, the pie was not my best. In fact, if any of you had come over, I’d have been ashamed to serve it. But seeing as my friends here had never eaten pie of any kind, they were none the wiser! They loved it.

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Pita Bread

Jimmie — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 12:48:39 +0000

Another baking accomplishment — pita bread! I got the recipe and tips from Farm Girl.

Pita Bread

Not all of them puffed up totally, but we had enough perfect ones for our dinner. The ones that didn’t puff up totally will be baked into pita chips. We stuffed them with seasoned beef, fresh cucumber slices, fresh salsa, shredded cheddar, and yogurt sauce. The family voted them a success, so they will be added to the menu rotation. It’s so wonderful to have another option. I get so tired of making the same things over and over.

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Double Yolked Eggs

Jimmie — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 11:04:26 +0000

I wanted to make deviled eggs for a Christmas gathering, and Hubby was nice enough to pick up eggs for me. My one request was to buy BIG eggs. He brought home some massive eggs, the largest I’ve ever seen in China — definitely JUMBO size.

No wonder. When I cut them open I found that except one of them, they all had double yolks!

They made beautiful, huge deviled eggs. Since then, I’ve paid more attention at the grocery store, and sure enough, there are clearly marked eggs that say “double yolks.”

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Art for Homeschool November Contest