Harvey still in our hearts

                             I wrote and lived most of this column two years ago. We were so displaced you may have missed it. When I’m far away and represent Port Arthur, people ask how it was during and after Harvey flooding. I say that if you didn’t have your home or your house flooded, then you likely had someone staying with you. We got better.

                             My home was intact and I had no problem feeding myself resourcefully, but someone staying in our house put out a crisis call and said we were eating leaves off the patio for survival. Her relative promptly got a big ice chest over from Lake Charles with chicken, pasta and peanut butter. I just couldn’t explain that as herb grower, I always go out to snip oregano, sweet potato leaves, etc. to flavor my meals.

                             Here’s how it was:

                             Still riding high from our total eclipse viewing in Tennessee, we came home to Harvey, the top Texas news.

                             My mom, recalling long power outages after Rita, was hoping we’d take her out of the flash flood path and all the way to Sherman, but alas, plans come and go so quickly in a time of potential crisis. We had seven plans and ended up pretty safe at home on Sunday.

                             Thank goodness she didn’t look out the window when our street was flooded. 

                             She mentioned cleaning our her freezer before we left, as we recall how trashed, stinky ice boxes lined the streets before. I hadn’t realize that she was thinking we’d take an ice chest full of food to our host’s home so we could cook it there. That was too much, I thought, for the willing host family to deal with. As it became clear we were staying, we started defrosting and eating up the best stuff first.

                             Where had she been hiding all that chicken, roast and Italian sausage? I got crazy with her seasonings and sauces. The best, part, it was all pretty low carb.

                             I saw on a Weight Watchers Facebook page people discussing doing some heavy Harvey snack binging, but I stayed on track with meats and veggies. Low carb and all.

                             I saw other Facebook pages people kind of freaking about where to get food at restaurants, but thanks to my mad creative cooking skills, I stayed more than nourished.

                             My colorful pitchers of drawn tap water for emergencies could have made a Pinterest post.     

                             Readers, I hope you all can get Harvey behind you soon. The rain is picking up again a I write this.

                             Here’s one of the use-it-up bites I came up with:

                             Herbal Nachos

                             Cut corn tortillas into strips and sautee in butter. (Normally I’d use olive oil, but I was trying to use up butter if the power went out.)

                             Work in any dry herbs you have and melt cheese on top. Top with chopped onions if you are lucky enough to have them.

                             Mom’s bacon crumbles, a sprinkling, a dusting of crushed red pepper

                            Darragh Doiron is a Port Arthur area foodie grateful for all the people who  helped our area out during and after Hurricane Harvey. Reach her at darraghcastillo@icloud.com

Time to pack lunch. For grownups

  My metal lunch box was plaid, and left over from my sister’s school days. These days I see more fancy lunch bag options for adults, with built-in ice packs and such for salads. New design options come out each year, but I like my open-style insulated bag with handles, because sometimes I luck into bringing more delights home than I left with.
      When I overheard some gentlemen at McDonald's discussing how they also like an occasional can of sardines with crackers so they can soak up the oil with them, I  knew I wasn't alone. I recently did that with cheese crackers. It's easy to keep canned fish in the pantry and oysters are my favorite. 

                     

                      Here are some more ideas on what to put in your lunch bag this season:

             

             

                      Coffee syrup is a two-in one

                      Retired News editor Roger Cowles always told me that people who “really like” coffee don’t go in for all that flavored stuff. This was before Starbucks was on every corner. I’ll bet he still feels the same way.

                      But, would he enjoy Runamok Maple Vermont Organic’s new coffee infused syrup. Possibly, but he’s not getting mine. I tested a small sample bottle on breakfast toast and all three recipients, myself included, truly appreciated this flavor-packed indulgence. It’s two-in-one flavor of the sweetness and the coffee. Mix some into cream cheese and pack it with sweet or salty crackers for a coffee-break snack.

                      Marie’s gives flavorful control

                      Salad is good for your body and the some primo dressing makes it all worthwhile. Marie’s Market Reserve is a new line of smaller, tuck-in-your-tote, salad dressings that the label says are 50 calories a serving. I couldn’t pick a favorite from the Southwest Style Ranch, Carmelized Onion & Sesame Seed Dressing and Smoked Black Pepper Caesar Dressing. There’s a Mayer Lemon Basil and Wildflower Honey & Lime Vinaigrette as well. You’ve seen this brand in the refrigerated dressing area. Look for what’s new and low-cal. I suggest them as a dipping sauce for packable veggie wraps, too.

                      Darragh Doiron is a Port Arthur area foodie who packs a bag of goodies for lunch or… whatever. Share your lunch idea with her at darraghcastillo@icloud.com

What's your dog about?

What's your dog about?

                      For two years I’ve been invited to a friend’s summer pool/Astros viewing party and the varied foods have had a vegetarian bent. This time, she announced, she’d serve carrot dogs.

                      Whatever you are imagining, you’re right. It’s a carrot on a bun. Dress it up with your standard hot dog toppings and go to to town with your dog. Laugh if you want, but I wanted to see how it was done.

                      The deal is, I knew I’d be out of town and missing the party. Now I was missing carrot dogs, too? Don’t worry, she saved some for me and I picked up a bag of whole wheat hot dog buns and a container of lovely carrots with grill marks. The carrots looked so good, I ate one cold and loved it. Total confession, when I warmed up my stash, I put some leftover barbecue on the bun, so it came out like a long sloppy joe. The grilled carrots went on the side, until I ate them all up.

                      Maybe I’ll try it as the hostess intended, when I have leftovers of the leftovers.

                             Mushrooms in the boil?

                             A newspaper friend Tweeted surprise that people put mushrooms in their crawfish boil. I have seen it done, and I love mushrooms. But I always considered mushrooms a pricy extra that gets lost in the commotion of  the boil. Onions, corn, potatoes and sausage are good for me. But I can see wanting to season everything you have on hand in that pot. I’d love to know how all those “extras” started. Readers, if you have some thoughts on mushrooms, etc., share them.

                             I sent word back to my friend that I’d recently boiled some eggs and peeled them, then let them heat some more in retained crawfish juice. By that I mean I removed some heads from boiled crawfish and boiled them down to make a stock for my next gumbo. I have a freezer full of spicy blocks of ice. Anyway, the spicy boiled eggs made a great lunch accompaniment for the rest of the week.

                             Darragh Doiron is a Port Arthur area foodie who knows it’s always crawfish season somewhere (if you froze ahead). Reach her at darraghcastillo@icloud.com

Seriously, salads can be creative

“Seriously Good Salads: Creative Flavor Combinations for Nutritious, Satisfying Meals”

Can you get a bit naughty with salads?

Nicky Corbishley, founder of Kitchen Sanctuary, thanks her family for eating so much salad in preparation of this book. We all win, with “nourish bowls” of firecracker chicken and wild rice; duck and plum business; lamb and orange; and prosciutto and peach salad with figs. She wants us to say goodbye to sad salads.”

The author suggests a BLT Chicken Salad and cooks chicken breasts on a tray under the bacon, so that the bacon fat drips onto the chicken. “A little naughty, but so, so good,” she writes.

Are you on board with this attitude? I’d never get board of these offerings, which include coffee-crusted seared steak with savory rice and stilton. If you make the chorizo and lima bean blend, you can go warm, or cold for the lunch bag.

Other touches that go “beyond” are: walnut brittle, grilled romaine and smoky eggplant.

Here’s a quickie from her dressing collection:

Smoky Cajun Buttermilk Dressing

The author loves this creamy dressing with chicken and shrimp, especially if they’re crispy coated. The slight spiciness works well with snap peas and other sweet, crunchy vegetables.

1 half cup mayonnaise

One half cup buttermilk

1 clove garlic, peeled and minced

1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice

1 half teaspoon smoked paprika

1 teaspoon Cajun seasoning

1 fourth teaspoon onion powder

1 tablespoon fresh dill, chopped

1 tablespoon fresh chives, chopped

Pinch of salt

Pinch of freshly ground black pepper 

In a small bowl, stir together all the ingredients until combined

And now for my salad:

The book above inspired me to assemble a salad that was delayed by days, so kept getting more ingredients.  A slaw mix got a small packet of honey mustard dressing acquired at a previous outing, a fresh apple cut up into little chunks, toasted nuts, dried cranberries, purple onion and some gyros meat. A huge bowl of that was all the dinner I needed. Crunchy and sweet, it lived up to the hype I’d created in my own mind.

Darragh Doiron is a Port Arthur area foodie ready to crunch into a seriously good-for-you and delicious salad. Got good ideas for add-ins? Reach her at darraghcastillo@icloud.com

The great recipe cull

                      

I still can’t believe my mom, a fabulous and creative cook, let me go through her bulging recipe files, with intent to reduce.

                      We both realized some of those carefully-clipped newspaper recipes from the ‘80s simply were not going to get made. Lots of recipes had the word “surprise” in the title. While it was fun to view them, there wasn’t a sense of loss to “let them go” because we all eat differently now. Foods are not so rich and have different, less processed ingredients.

                      Still, I did divvy them up among cooks I figured would be interested in reviewing them, too.

                      I recognized many contributions from the Port Arthur area, including Angus McIntosh, who cooked for St. Mary Hospital and had a column in The News. Of course, I saved clips that appeared in my column. I hope you would have, too.

   

                      It’s not even green, but it’s good. I refer to Avocado Mayonnaise by BetterBody Foods.

                      Avocados are very hip and avocado toast is super trendy. Why not add a touch of this 100 percent pure avocado oil mayo to your breakfast. Also, did I just use the word “avocado” much? I don’t think you can overdo this non-GMO, gluten-free, soy and canola-free, 100 calorie a tablespoon creamy spread made with cage-free eggs. Conveying all that was more work than making my simple, creamy and yummy toast, Avocado Mayo and fried egg sandwich. Man, I wish dealing with avocados was always as easy as just opening a jar. 

  Fu

                             Fun Size: I'm often late to candy trends. Did you know m&m’s has Fun Size bags of Mexican Jalapeno, English Toffee and Coconut? I loved trying them but I’m still gonna list peanut as my personal favorite. I do like that you can eat some now and then later, because of the coating that won’t melt. I can even stretch the Fun Size into multiple servings.

                  Darragh Doiron is a Port Arthur area foodie who will continue to make new recipes and save the old. Reach her at darraghcastillo@icloud.com