A Free nutritional analysis for you.

Most of us need to improve our health in some way or another and could stand to feel better as well. Most of us try to eat well, but what if the very things you were eating because you thought they were healthy were not the best for YOU in particular?




If you are stuck healthwise this may be the case. But how to figure out what you should be eating, this is a puzzle even for most health professionals.



So I was excited to find a free online nutritional typing test from Dr. Mercola as well as a cook book to go with it!







Here is the link!







http://products.mercola.com/nutritional-typing/







Have fun and hope it improves your health!

(Matsunaga) Family Fried Rice

Do you ever have left overs, or trouble getting your kids to eat veggies?  If you answered yes to either one, or just want a great easy to please dish that works at least in an Asian household ( and I don't see why not any other one) as your choice of a breakfast, lunch or dinner, main dish, side dish or snack...then THIS is the recipe for you.

I have made this for over 23 years, it is never quite the same two times and it just keeps getting better, I will save you 23 years of improving and just take you to where we are now....

Family Fried Rice-

Ingredients-

1-2 Table spoons of bacon drippings
1 onion chopped
3 large broccoli stems chopped ( no florets)
2-3 carrots cut into tiny cubes or into coins or matchsticks- ( your choose)
2 small or 1 med zucchini cut into small pieces-half or 1/4 coins or cubes or matchsticks
1/2-1 cup frozen peas
1 small yellow squash cut same as zucchini
1/4 of a small red/purple cabbage
1/2 red bell pepper
Sea salt to taste, a small amount
Bragg's liquid aminos or Chinese soy sauce - again a small amount, start with a teaspoon or less
Long grain cooked brown rice between 2-3 cups
Your choice of meats already cooked and cubed unless it's small shrimp
2-3 eggs
butter or olive oil for cooking eggs
fresh pepper

To Make-

Start the night before you will make this by soaking 1.5-2 cups of brown long grain rice in 1 and a half times as much purified water. 

The next day pour water into rice cooker ( or if you don't have one drive to the nearest grocery store and purchase a cheap one, unless of course you are Asian and eat rice for pretty much breakfast, lunch and dinner in that case buy one that is a couple hundred dollars at least, but if this is the case you already HAVE one, there are also brown rice cookers that make it so you do not need to soak your brown rice prior to cooking to get good results, I just have not splurged yet!)  Cook the rice until done, then mix it up to finish with it's steaming and unplug the cooker and allow to cool, better yet if you have time, put it in the fridge so it is all the way cooled.

Then when you are ready to make the rest of the dish....go to your fridge, find any and all left over meat, ( steak, pork chops, chicken, shrimp, turkey, even hot dogs or lunch meat will do, but don't let the "authentic ethinic food police" find out.....) Chop this meat into small cubes.  If you do not have any left overs you can cook some up, but half the purpose of this dish is to use the left overs so....I think you should make it when you have them, it is part of what makes the recipe good too since you get the flavors of how ever you made the meat before in it, and the mix of several meats. The one I made last week had chicken, steak, porkchop and bacon in it.

Once you have cut these up, set them aside and cut up your veggies, just open your fridge and see what you have, if you have preplanned you can have any or all of the veggies I listed in the recipe, but if not use what you have.  The amounts do not have to exact.  When you are almost done chopping, heat a cast iron skillet up with either the bacon drippings or instead for better health use the same amount of olive or safflower oil with a bit of old hickory smoke salt, or just sea salt.  Then add the chopped veggies and pan fry until tender, start with the harder to cook up veggies like the carrots and broccoli stems and add things like peas that cook fast at the end.  While you are doing that also heat up your omlet pan and cook up your eggs after scrambling them in a dish flat on a preheated pre oiled/buttered pan.  When both are done add meat to veggies and cut up eggs and add them too. 

Last but not least add the rice and mix everything up.

Then when it is all mixed up and coated taste, add the braggs or soy sauce and sea salt very very slowly as needed.  Hint asian dishes only use soy sauce as a tiny bit of seasoning, not as a main flavoring....if in doubt skip it!  Top with a little fresh ground pepper, again taste as you go.

I love this dish because it helps my daughter who will hardly touch veggies eat them and it uses left overs and it is WAY more veggies than rice....


Other possible ingredients--

Scallops
green peppers
green onions
green cabbage
leeks
shallots
spinach stems
califlower
sausage

Ingredients are really only limited by your imagination and common sense and good taste...have fun and let me know how you like it!  I never make it exactly the same twice...no reason you should either!

P.S. Lee this is for you, I know you miss this dish lots....now you can make it and eat it for a week!

This week's menu- 1/30-2/6

This week's menu choices-

For dinners-

Halibut Cheeks

Tamali Pie

Home Made Crunchy Chicken Tenders with Tangy dipping sauce

Curry with Rice

Beef Stew with biscuits

Steak with steamed veggies

 Coconut, Rockfish & Bamboo Shoot Tai Soup

Ruben Sandwiches


For Lunches-

Minestroni soup with no pasta

Rueben Sandwiches

Sloppy Joes made with organic hamburger on whole grain buns

Burritos

Mini Pizzas on whole grain english muffin crusts

Edemame', Rice and Miso Soup

Turkey dogs on whole grain buns

Turkey sandwiches


Some how this week, despite it's crazieness, I managed to get everything prepped by the end of the day today.  ( did better than last week!) 

 I had a wonderful although bittersweet and unexpected visit this week from my dad.  ( he is very sick now and goes in for major surgery this next week and has recently been diagnosed with cancer)   It was so nice that when he came and arrived right about dinner time I had things made to make a very nice meal to enjoy with him and the family even though when he arrived I had only gotten home from work just a few minutes before.  This is one of those times that I am thanking heaven for doing my menu planning, normally I would be running around like crazy maybe would have had to waste some of my precious time with him shopping for dinner!  I served him the Fish Cakes with Corn Relish that I had planned for last week.  ( it took forever on a Saturday to make, but it was wonderful)

He left on Tuesday afternoon after we ate out for lunch together.  I went back to work on Wednesday and Thursday and Friday.  Kids came with me to work on Friday....then.....I got a call from my husband Friday late afternoon letting me know that my Mom in Law was coming to visit....you guessed it, in about 2 hours.  Of course this ends of being the day that my housekeeper and I have a miscommunication and she thusly does not come as scheduled....and it is the first time in over 20 years my Mom in Law has visited and stayed over at our house!....needless to say I was a bit stressed....all for no reason, the kids and I got things fairly together as we could in the time we had....( ie the 2 hours minus our drive time back from the office) AND we had a nice visit....

After staying up too late talking I got to bed Friday night and still managed to get the menu planning done prior to sleeping and to be up by 6:30 and out the door by 7:30am grocery shopping.  The ladies at the Starbuck's in our Fred Meyers store are so impressed now with the fact I have managed to show up sans 3 of the kids and wearing the 4th and still be in and out of the store with a week's worth of groceries in just about an hour or less.  I am not sure which is more impressive to me, the time or being there with out all of my gang.....but do know it sure makes it faster!

Then from there I went to show homes in University Place WA to some of my clients and still made it with 7 minutes to spare to my dental appointment @ 10:30, got 3 overdue cavities drilled and filled ( with out any pain meds and while holding Peter since it was easier than listening to him cry) and was home by noon....just in time of course to make LUNCH!

My Mom in Law taught me to make kim chee this week end which was really nice and I actually really enjoyed her visit even though or maybe because she and I spent most of the weekend in the kitchen...and of course it is my "One Butt" kitchen and I did most of it wearing a 6 month old child so....it was interesting.  None the less, she made some of the best tasting kimchee I have ever had and helped me cook and everything for next week is prepped too.....Poor Hiroko is used to a much better equipped kitchen, a cleaner kitchen and you know one that has things like....well mixing bowls and an oven that works instead of a toaster oven, but she was a good sport and we got almost all the prep done before she left, I managed to finish the rest.....however I know I will be cleaning while over seeing schooling tomorrow morning, the kitchen is a MESS.

This week made me think and one of the things I thought about is this....no matter what is going on in your life, having meals ready is a help and makes things better.  Also family meal time is really really important, and what I serve up may make all the difference in the world now and later in terms of today's and tomorrow's health and also in terms of relationships.  I really enjoyed the time I shared with our family and my extended family this week and most of it centered on physical and spiritiual meals.....

Have a great week...more soon on saving @ the grocery store!

This week's menu choices

One of the things I do to make it so I can do mostly home cooked meals and to save money is I plan our family meals ahead of time.  I inventory on Friday, shop early on Saturday and cook Sat and Sunday.

The meals for this week are-

Sea Food Pancakes with Corn Relish

Split Pea Soup and Biscuits

Wild Rice Stuffed Pork Chops

Corn Breaded Chicken Tenders

Sashmi- Miso Soup-Edemame and Stir Fried Marinaded Beef

Tacos

Hot Dogs on whole grain buns

Angus Burgers on whole grain buns

Fried Rice

Mexican Casserole


Each week my goal is to prep all I can before Monday so that the week is smoother. 

This week I am a little behind the ball as of Monday morning.  I ended up showing homes on Sunday during the time I would normally be cooking AND had to drop my husband off @ the train station AND I am still not used to having our Bible meeting @ 4pm instead of 10am. ( a change that happened @ the beginnning of the year) 

I did manage to finish the fried rice this morning while making breakfast and schooling with the kids and I think I can finish the Mexican Casserole tonight while I make our other dinnner and then I will be caught up since I prepped everything else over the weekend.

I already made and served the Fish Pancakes on Saturday evening.  I loved them, Karl loved them, the kids would not touch them....oh well, gourmet meals don't always go over well with kids, but it was fun to make, will share the recipe this week.

I will also do my best to share one of my best family recipes for Fried Rice this week, this one is really good for you and also uses money wisely with use of left overs, one of the only ways my oldest daughter Chlo'e will eat veggies!  A great make ahead dish that is easy to do in stages, that you can eat for breakfast, lunch and dinner, this makes it ideal for both families and for those who are cooking for just one or two since it actually IMPROVES when it sits over night in the fridge....

I'll do my best to post my menu choices each week and if you want the recipe for any of them, please comment or email me a_matsunaga@hotmail.com, and let me know that you want the recipe, I will do my best to post i with in the week.