We all have a personal philosophy for our life: the choices we make and why we make them. Simply put; your philosophy is your personal set of rules for living. Added to this I believe we should also strive to develop a healthy food philosophy as well. A set of rules, as it were, that would lead you through life to make the right food choices and would also encourage you to achieve and even maintain a healthy balanced diet.


So how should we begin to develop our food philosophy? That is easy. Take a close look at food: its function and purpose in your life. here are some questions to get you started on your path to developing a healthy food philosophy.

Why do you eat?
What is your favourite dish and why?
How do you feel when you eat a particular meal?
How many times do you eat for the day?
How do you space those meals?
What are the size of the meals?
Do certain foods remind you of childhood experiences or take you back to a certain time in your life?
What do you remember?


Every decision made in shopping for food can be accompanied with a number of premeditated questions to help you with your buying decisions, another key area to your food philosophy development....

How much does this food item cost?
How much should I buy?
Is this within my food budget?
What is its expiry date?
How long would these groceries last?
Does that pack or can have a nutrition fact label and storage instructions?
What recipe(s) could I make from this?


As a rule try to keep these questions as practical as possible to everyday life, so you would not feel annoyed while shopping. In developing my philosophy I have asked myself these and many other questions and I find that in so doing you come to terms with yourself and how you view food. Quite possibly this examination of conscience could give you the answers to some eating habit that you never thought of.



This process is helpful in developing a healthy food philosophy. You should try it too. Personally my food philosophy allows me to enjoy food but at the same time it is done in moderation. I sometimes like to indulge in some food for just a short time, especially if it is something you haven't eaten for a long time. But then I would balance it off by doing a bit of exercise. Of course, there are some foods I will not eat for one personal reason or another.


Your food philosophy is for you and, as I put it, " no one is responsible for what you put in your mouth other than yourself!" What is also important, is to ensure food purchases are worth its value, while at the same time you don't feel like you are starving yourself. After all, you need the energy for life's demands.

Here are 10 ideas to stretch your wedding food budget.

1. Avoid venues that control the catering. If it is difficult to avoid, choose menus for the meals that you (the couple) would eat.
   
2. Have a brunch type of reception. This type of reception usually takes place during the early morning 10 to 11 A.M. and the meals are generally simpler. Fruits, breads, muffins, etc. are usually served. Above all, less alcohol would be served in a brunch type of reception. This makes such a reception inexpensive. But care must be taken to ensure that the meals are attractive.
   
3. Don’t be stingy. Just because it is your wedding, you don't have to do everything. Accept help from those eager family members and friends. (And let them do their work). Among family and friends could be found a number of talents: catering, food decorating, and hospitality.
4. Have someone to guard the liquor for you. Need I say more? This prevents a whole lot of other unwanted accidents.
   
5. Serve buffet style and make an impressive presentation. Buffet style catering decreases the amount of waiters needed.
6. Limit the type of drinks served.
   
7. Limit the guest list. Devise a strategy in selecting. For example, only family and friends seen and contacted within the last 3 years.
8. Have shorter receptions.
9. Decorate the cake yourself.
10. Have a menu in mind before you speak with your caterer. Don't leave it entirely up to someone else.
    

Finally, your helpers are god-sent so treat them like royalty on the day. Thank each of them for their help.

Good Friday has come and gone and Easter is breathing down our necks... How quickly time flies! Just the other day we were ringing in the New Year then we were "jumping up" for Carnival. Anyhow, yesterday was a special day for me because it meant that fasting has come to an end and now it's time to get ready for Easter. So besides the l-o-n-g walk for the "stations of the cross" and all the other religious significance of the day, there is a traditional custom when it comes to what we Trinidadians eat on Good Friday.


The meal usually consists of fish ( any kind of fish) and provision (yam, cassava, dasheen, plantain etc.) Now the origin of this custom has been lost in time, at least to me. It's just one of those things you just grow up knowing about and follow. But, when I look at it from a different angle I could understand why we eat this type of meal. So here's my crack at explaining this custom of eating provision and fish on Good Friday....


First of all this meal is simple: after a long walk in the hot sun, you want to come home and be able to cook a meal that's quick to prepare, easy and filling at the same time; provision is easy to cook (you just boil it) and the fish cooks in no time as well.




Secondly this meal is similar to the Seder meal which has great religious significance where the different parts that make up the meal has a deeper meaning. So, within our Trinidadian cultural context there is an approximation to the original Seder meal. So instead of the Charoset/ Haroset we have have the provision, to symbolize the mortar the Jews used. Instead of the bitter herbs we use a green salad or in some cases watercress to symbolize the bitterness of slavery and instead of the lamb bone to symbolize sacrifice we use fish....preferably saltfish (the salt being also symbolic of the sweat and tears of the slaves.....


What an insight!


Well I already did the provision and saltfish recipe a while back but to give the meal a little twist we did it a little different but still just as meaningful and tasty. We decided to do herbed potatoes with sauteed veggies, green salad, baked fish and callaloo as shown in the picture below. I don't have to tell you how satisfying this meal was. I was filled for a few hours well.





Anyway, I wish each and everyone of you a Happy Easter and do enjoy the day; I know I will....

(speaking to myself: maybe I'll go take a nice river bath or go up to the waterfall...or buss ah lime by....)

Until next time! Bye!

Weddings can be expensive. Sometimes, a couple may take a loan to have and enjoy this most memorable time. Yet, like all weddings they will have the inescapable glitches. But, I have found out that there are ways to decrease that spending frenzy, that seems so prevalent during such an occasion.

1. Start with a budget, a food budget, and the guest list.

The luncheon is a major part of the reception and an equivalent amount of time and effort should be placed on planning the luncheon. A simple wedding could just as well offer the couple and guests cherished memories. It is good sense to plan your food, because ultimately you save in many ways and you can avoid wasting good food. You also take into consideration you own limitations (financially and physically).

A large guest list and dozens of individual appetizers is a sure recipe for a budget overdraft when you know you don't have the support to cover extra expenses. Remember that quantity does not equal quality, and pleasing everyone is costly (especially, in the Trini sense, when half of your guests would be stormers!)

2. Next, consider your beliefs, food preferences, reception site, and time of day.

This will help you devise a menu you can share with your caterer. You do not always need an exotic menu from some foreign country. A simple menu could be just as impressive to the guests. If you think of any wedding you attended you would surprisingly notice you remember the tasty cake you ate there rather than the dramatic cake you observed when you first entered the reception.

Also, a smaller guest list is so much easier for the caterer to cater to. The food is always tastier and the caterer would have been able to ensure the food tastes exquisite. They are less likely to cut corners to prepare the meals. Not to mention, the guest themselves will be happy with the few tasty entrees. However, if hors d’oeuvres must be served, stick to simple foods as it would be less expensive.

3. Accept help from family and friends, or seek their help.

Many couples seek the assistance of family and resourceful friends around this time. There you may find skillful decorators, a planner, cooks, etc. They may be very eager to give their service around this time. People love weddings and are always willing to offer their service freely. There you may also find some family or friends willing to help make the finger foods to be served between the meals. (Also a point to note, finger foods are great for shorter receptions).

Taking note of these three points will help you plan a memorable occasion for you and your family and friends. Now all you have to deal with are the "control freaks" who may want to upstage your plans on the day and impose their "ideas" of a wedding on you.

Have you ever been lost for words to describe how something tasted? Well! This spinach lasagna did that to me; there was so much going on "taste wise" as I ate. Similarly to how an artist uses pastel colours with hints and tinges, there was a hint of this flavour and a tinge that seasoning, that danced together in my mouth. The meal was absolutely fabulous; I felt satisfied, but not over full and, strange as it may seem, I didn't even miss meat. For those of you who have been reading this blog for some time, you will certainly know that I am a certified "meat mouth" so this is may come as a surprise. But you just have to try it and you'll see, rather taste, what what I'm talking about.


There are many plants that we call spinach or bhaji, as I have explained in a previous post but the one commonly used for this dish is the Amaranth (Amaranthus Spinosus). I believe some people also call it chorai bhaji here in Trinidad. The young leaves of this plant really cooks well so much so that we use it in bhaji, soups or sometimes in callaloo together with dasheen bush. The Amaranth is quite a hardy plant and grows in conditions that other plants may die quickly; like concrete or very dry soil.


Planting it, based on my experience, is also easy. The tiny seeds are shaken in the area where you want it to grow and you don't even have to prepare the soil. In a few weeks thereafter, you will see the healthy seedlings growing at a pace that soon overgrows the area. If you want you could add some organic fertilizer or 13:13:20 to help the plants grow healthier. Then every few weeks or so you just pass by with a knife and cut the young heads and make rice and bhaji or eat it with bake or in a pastry (spinach patty) the list goes on ....or as in toady's post you could also make spinach lasagna. Or if you have a lot you can sell some at $6.00 a bundle (see! I'm showing you how to make some money at the side also! ) LOL!!!


After doing some reading about this plant, there is a lot of info I found that proves how beneficial this plant is nutritionally and medically that you can read about here. In some countries it is even used in making a red dye. But it is sometimes treated as a weed; commonly known as pig weed in the USA. Anyhow I'm sure there may be people that know about the plant and use it in meals, possibly in a similar way. OK! OK! I realise that I'm talking too much; recipe time now. So without further ado here's Spinach Lasagna.


P.S. Do you have an exciting recipe that you use amaranth in? I would like to hear about it.

SPINACH LASAGNA

1 pack of lasagna pasta
1 bundle of spinach (bhagi)
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 small onion, finely chopped
2 tbsp. oil for sauteing the spinach
1 1/2 lb. cheddar cheese, grated
2 tbsp. butter
2 tbsp. flour, all purpose
1 cup milk
1/2 cup chunky tomato sauce (optional)

Wash and clean the spinach.



Saute the garlic and onion in a deep pot.

Add the spinach (bhagi) to the pot, mix and allow to cook until the leaves are soft.

Make the white sauce. Over a low flame, melt the butter, stir in the flour, and add the milk. Mix, preferably with a fork to ensure that the flour don't lump together. Continue to boil until the milk gets thick. Remove immediately from the flame.


Boil the pasta.



Drain when cooked and set aside to cool.



Grease the dish and line it with the pasta.

Add the white sauce (if you are placing tomato sauce, then add it now),
layer the spinach, then the cheese, and then another layer of pasta.
Continue when done. Note: you will have about three layers when done.

You may still have some spinach, this can be placed on the top as
well before the last layer of cheese. Bake for 40 minutes at 250 degrees F



The finished Spinach Lasagna. Allow to cool before serving.

Well that's it for another enjoyable post. Before I go; I just want to extend an invitation to all who read these blog posts, to join my newly formed group over at facebook. You can click on the icon at the top or just do a search for simply trini cooking in facebook. It's open to everyone and you can post pictures of any of the recipes you have tried etc., discuss anything, chat or meet other foodies just like me.

OK!OK! Ah gone now. Bye!

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