French toast/cake and diabetic comfort food

 

French toast? French cake?

I know from experience December and January birthdays can get lost in the holiday shuffle. But there’s always plenty of food. I attended my friend’s daughter’s 23^rd birthday family meal, which was on the heels of  their pre-Christmas Christmas gumbo the day before. That’s why the dessert buffet included chocolate cake, cookie cake, nut bread, lemon cake, pie, another kind of pie, brownies, bread pudding, ice cream, chocolate candies and some other temptations I may have missed.

That’s why they begged me to take a mystery cake home. It was a little dry by the fourth day, but no matter. I figured if an egg wash and grilling in butter makes French toast, I could make French cake out of “lost bread.”Don’t worry. I’ve attempted this before with stellar results. That’s what became of French mystery cake, with a dusting of pumpkin pie spice on top. So glad to have helped another family with a dessert rescue.

             

                      Diabetic comfort food

                      Master basics from seared chicken breast, and pan-grilled pork chops to sautéed shrimp and (don’t be alarmed) tofu, and you’re on your way to mixing and matching a lifestyle from “The Perfect Diabetes Comfort Food Collection.” Robyn Webb gives readers “9 Essential Recipes You Need to Create 90 Amazing Complete Meals.”

                      Doubters? Try Thai Beef Salad, Blackened Beef Tacos and Apple Cider Chicken and pretend you’re in a restaurant. But you’re at home, controlling the ingredients you don’t want and boosting the flavor of your nutritious options. Wait until you get to the lasagna chapters. You can try something new for nine days in a row, but hey, you’d want those leftovers, too.

                      This book has the American Diabetes Association stamp and the author offers reminders for seasoned cooks. Reminder: Pick a theme, such as Italian or Asian, for your salad and it will come out better than if you simply dump and toss ingredients. On that note, here’s one of the dressing choices that go with a spinach and mushroom salad:

                      Hot Bacon Dressing

                      4 slices lean bacon, chopped

                      1 small onion, finely chopped,

                      2 cloves garlic, mince

                      one half cup cider vinegar

                      1 tablespoon sugar

                      1 tablespoons tomato paste                                                                      

 Cook   Cook the bacon in a large heavy skillet over medium heat until crisp. Add the onion and sauté for 2 minutes. Add the garlic, vinegar, sugar and tomato paste. Stir to blend. Toss salad with dressing and serve.

              Thank you, pig

              A plastic child is excited by a fish market’s case full of crab and lobster in the Fine Dining section of “Animals of the World,” a Richard Unglik Playmobil book. Again, those little toys go around the world for adventures and share how they live. The counter man on the meat market page wields a tiny cleaver! Readers are asked to celebrate all the animals, large and small, who provide us with the nutrition that is essential for our growth. “Thanks to you, little pig, who gives us ham, bacon and sausages,” the book reads. “Don’t forget the fish, crabs, mussels and shrimp that smell so delicious on our plates!”

              darraghcastillo@icloud.com

Kosher travels inspire meals

                      Lentils are the “poor man’s meat,” I just read in a cookbook. I plan to say that, at least to myself, every single time I eat them from now on. I already say or think that avocado is the “poor man’s butter” every time I enjoy one.

                      This lentil news came from Susie Fishbein’s book “Kosher by Design Brings it Home: Picture Perfect Food Inspired by my Travels.” Even the raw food on the cover looks tempting, featuring measuring decorative measuring spoons full of spices with herbs, fruits and grains at the ready. The book was 15 years in the making, and I’m paused on the carrot salad recipe. A visit to France yields readers a recipe for strawberry mascarpone bread pudding the lentil and tuna salad, we are told, is a Tuscan picnic treat. Here’s how she handles the carrots:

                      Spicy Pickled Carrots

              4 carrots, peeled, cut on the diagonal into one-fourth inch slices

              1 cup apple cier vinegar

              two thirds cup of water

              one fourth cup plus two teaspoons of sugar

              two and one half tablespoons mustard seeds

              1 tablespoon dill seeds

              two dried bay leaves

              5 springs fresh dill

              1 clove garlic, sliced

                      Place the carrots into a one-quart container orjar. Heat the vinegar, water, sugar, mustard seeds, dill seeds and bay leaves in a small pot, stirring to dissolve the sugar; do not allow to boil. Remove from heat; cool.

                      Pour the vinegar mixture over the carrots. Add the dill and garlic. Chill, covered, in the refrigerator at least overnight. The carrots will keep in this container for up to three weeks.

              Sounds Good Books:

                      * Gelato in Italy and caviar in Russia? I’d share with my Plamobil friends. Richard Unglik compiled “Journey Around the World,” a child’s picture book with plenty of grown-up references. It’s a postcard/journal style batch of fun with 30 stops, based on those round-faced plastic figures that are probably somewhere in your home. Was my favorite the figurines in the style of the Beatles crossing Abbey Road? Yes, Paul was sans shoes. Or was it the Pope? What a fun way to learn about Van Gogh, Pre-Columbian civilization and bonsai.

                      * Customers first, product second. Sales reps should stick around after the ink dries on the contract. Once the pressure is off the salesperson and the sale is made, the pressure is on for the buyer for that product to deliver. Make your pitch and delivery better with 12 proven strategies for a customer-driven world, outlined in “Beyond the Sales Process” by Steve Andersen and Dave Stein.

              darraghcastillo@icloud.com