As a Graduate Chef and chief meal planner now at home; I’m always trying to think of recipes to help overcome meal monotony. yes you all know exactly what I’m talking about.  it’s where you look in your pantry and everything looks exactly the same. or when you look in your deep freezer [...]]]>

As a Graduate Chef and chief meal planner now at home; I’m always trying to think of recipes to help overcome meal monotony. yes you all know exactly what I’m talking about.  it’s where you look in your pantry and everything looks exactly the same. or when you look in your deep freezer and nothing jumps out at you; so to say.

I started collecting cooking videos a while ago, to help inspire me; when I’m a little unenthusiastic about cooking.  first off I have to cook two special diets usually in one meal – trying to use the same ingredients, mostly.  just think about that why don’tcha.  I have to cook a restricted renal diet; which is no salt, no real fiber or high potassium/phosphorus ingredients.  I’m sure you’re just thinking now to yourselves, what the heck is she talking about ?

welllll, that means white bread instead of home-baked unbleached whole wheat bread.  focaccia instead of pizza. tamales instead of chili;  get it ?  it’s really a game of mix and match.  the dietitian and I compare notes about what works and what  doesn’t.  he drinks Rice Dream; and he’s supposed to eat Rice Dream Dairy Ice – instead he likes TCBY Chocolate Yogurt.

first off he is not allowed to have chocolate; or dairy. so both are a fail. in addition he likes it topped with Hershey’s chocolate syrup.  still if he wants it, he gets it.  he loves croissants which I bake fresh several times a week in fours. yes four only.  he is not supposed to have rich anything – and he has high cholesterol; so butter is a oh hell no.  still I relent. he gets his hot ass croissants; as he refers to them.  I just shake my head and walk away.

I bake him blueberry muffins, and corn muffins; get him light wheat bread for sandwiches; and try as best as I can to not take everything away from him, as he says.  it’s a daunting task as I have High Cholesterol and am on a salt restricted diet too, so pretty much I need diuretics and he well, isn’t supposed to have alot of them.  I love celery, he can have it in moderation.  I love Broccoli and Collard Greens. he can have them in moderation, extreme moderation. his vegetable of choice is Cabbage which is on his extremely limited consumption list;  yet how could I not cook him some steamed Jamaican style cabbage with carrots, onions, garlic and fresh thyme ?

OOhhhh co’monnnn it’s only cabbage..

he itches like he is on fire when he eats stuff he isn’t supposed to and yet the doctors have no remedy.  all of my sheets look like the scene of a cat fight . meeeeeeeeeeoooooooooowwwwwwwwwwwww ! it’s a real problem. this is something that goes with dialysis for some patients.

Anyway back to food Mon,

so the recipe videos are kind of interesting and provide a distraction to me during those times when I just need to get away for a minute in my own head.  yes I miss making fresh strudels with supreme sauce; and gumbo with all the vegetables and shrimp. sure I miss making rice and peas in the real rice pot. but what I have today v. yesterday is a whole new cooking reality show going on everyday in my kitchen.

no rice-n-peas here anymore Ms. Reeni..

I think you might like some of these videos enough to try them. check them out and when you cook them, drop me a note and let me know what you cooked and how it came out. I love to read about cooking and you can always find me lurking around the cooking blogs – leaving smart mouth comments and asking questions. My Buddy Reeni The Cinnamon Girl; yeah that’s what I call her, asked me a few weeks ago why I never write about cooking. I had to think about it; so today is my first attempt at posting something about cooking.  Here You Go Ms. Reeni – tell Moonkitty Heyyy,

Check Out These Caribbean Cooking Videos, and Tell Me What You’d Cook Mon ?

Just So You Know – I’ve got more than 100 of these cooking videos in my collection.

click on the video and it will take you directly to my video site.

you can check out my library and find something delicious and unique to cook just by checking out a video.

I’ll be updating my videos weekly so there’s always going to be a storehouse of good eatin on this page. be sure to bookmark it or subscribe to the rss feed so you know what’s cookin mon !

I also wanted to say that in order to make food more palatable when you have a special diet – my tip is to use Fresh Herbs. I love Fresh Herbs. I of course dry my own, when in season – but otherwise when I can get them – I Always Keep Fresh Thyme, Chives, Parsley, Cilantro and if I can Rosemary and Basil in my kitchen; in a vase.

Check out this tip on essential Caribbean Spices

I also want to show you one of my most favorite fast food Drive Throughs Literally;  the restaurants in the wilds of Jamaica – in Faiths’ Pen.  notice the red bauxite hills above the roofs.

Yes, this is a twenty four hour operation. anytime you are passing from north to south, you must stop at Faiths Pen, just to rest and refresh yourself. that’s why this food court of sorts sprung up, in carts and lean to’s along side the mountain about 40 years ago. finally the government made it official.

it’s breathtakingly beautiful, and has some of the best food in the world, yes the world.

Notice she is cooking over a Wood and Charcoal Fire.

Yes an Open Fire. nothing is burning, and she is well in control of all her pots. she has only running water and electricity from her own generator to run her fridge and lights. Ms. Fatty is a very nice lady and she’s been there for as long as I can remember. all of that food will be consumed by people who are driving along that highway you see behind her on the oposite side of that fence. btw, that fence is recent, and the vendors don’t really like it since they say it cuts into their money.

the cars used to get car service by people who would run out to you with a pad asking what you wanted and they’d fix your plate and bring it to you – wherever you might be sitting to stretch your legs. kind of a form of Jamaican Car Hops. Even the  Roast Corn man would have some kids who ran with a pan of hot roasted corn, dipped in butter and sell it along with bag juice; car to car so you never had to get out. now they have bathrooms and it’s an official Jamaica Tourism Rest Stop.

“if unnu hungry half way a town, stop thru Faiths’ Pen fi good nam down” this is an old jamaican road blessing given as you are departing usually. I’ve said it myself to those leaving us on the north coast heading south.

Okay enough talk about cooking, lets eat Mon!

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