The Husband Cooks Wednesdays

… and he did. He had off today, so tackled a favorite dish of his. Carne con Papas is a Cuban Beef Stew that he’s had plenty of times before, but this was his first time attempting to make it. He did a fantastic job, producing a dish that had tender meat and soft buttery potatoes served over rice. He now has another one to add to his rotating repertoire (recipe to follow tomorrow).

A week without a trip to the hospital seems to be too ordinary for us, but luckily today it wasn’t MY turn! Instead, it was The Neighbor Husband. He had a gallbladder attack last night, and ended up having surgery today. He had his first attack in November and the doctors let him go home, but told him to schedule the surgery; you know how it is when pain goes away, you quickly forget about it. After my surgery last month, I’ve been nagging him to go, and, of course, he didn’t listen. At least now I don’t need to nag anymore. ;) He’s recuperating comfortably, and tomorrow you can tune in to see what I scored from the hospital’s coffee shop tonight. Leave it to me to find goodies there! In the meantime, regular readers may remember how much The Neighbor Husband likes Sandra Lee. I thought it would be fun to do a Sandra Lee Send-Up for him. They say laughter is the best medicine, so let’s tickle his funny bone. Want to join in? Send me your Sandra Lee permalink by Friday to be included in the Friday night round-up. Be creative — no rules say it has to be a post with a Sandra Lee recipe, just something about Sandra Lee. But hey, you never know … maybe we’ll find something good!

The new issue of delicious. magazine hit the stands a few weeks ago, and I was totally drooling as soon as I saw the cover. I wrote an article about it for Paper Palate, which you can read here. Go check it out, and while you’re there, take a gander at the other great articles as well.

Lastly, I thought it would be fun to tackle some of the Frequently Asked Questions I’ve received in comments and e-mails recently (especially comments, since sometimes my replies get lost…):

Q: Where can I find ginger paste?
A: You’ll find in most recipes that request fresh ginger, I sub ginger paste. I discovered it a few years ago at a Middle Eastern grocery store and have been using it ever since. I hate peeling and grating fresh ginger and often times, I don’t use it up fast enough, so the ginger paste is a perfect substitution. It’s sold in a small glass jar (non-refrigerated section), and can even be found in the ethnic section of your regular grocery store.

Q: What is Guacamole Cream?
A: A concoction I came up with that we love. I take 2-3 ripe avocados and peel and mash them up. To that, I add a splash or two of lemon juice, a handful of fresh, chopped cilantro, salt and pepper to taste and about a teaspoon of low-fat sour cream per avocado (i.e., 2 avocados = 2 teaspoons sour cream). It yields a unique twist on Guacamole.

Q: Yesterday The Chocolate Lady asked which parts of the orange were the most antioxidant-rich.
A: I couldn’t find info on the benefits of specific parts, but did find this helpful information during my research today… It’s always better to eat the fruit whole in its natural form, as some of the potency is lost when the juice is extracted. Orange juice contains an antioxidant limonin, present in orange juice at about the same levels as vitamin C, that has the unique property of remaining in the blood providing protection for 24 hours, unlike most antioxidants which are gone from the blood after 6 hours. And lastly, the fruits and vegetables that have the highest antioxidant capacity were oranges, cauliflower, and peas. Pretty interesting stuff.

All for tonight… tune in tomorrow to see who gets the next nod for New (to Me) Blogger on the Block Thursday and what’s cooking for my Rediscovering My Library segment this week. Until then…

A year ago today… coincidentally, The Husband cooked and we visited with celebrity chefs.

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