By Rosie Moore

There are millions of recipes in the world, literally, from all the countries of the world, and America has, I can imagine, maybe half of them. I’m just assuming here. I love to cook (and eat).

I get a lot of recipes from cookbooks which I collect –I have maybe fifty or more. Besides the perennial favorites that I cook on holidays or even on non-special days, I love to taper with exotic recipes that I’ve never tried before. Some of them in my column today are in this category and some of you have probably tried them or heard of them. Some of them I have made, others I haven’t tried yet.

While waiting in my doctor’s office one day and browsing through a magazine I noticed a recipe that intrigued me. It was Emily Deschanel’s (from the TV show “Bones”) mother’s recipe which is one of her favorites, called spoon bread. I didn’t want to tear it out of my doctor’s magazine so I quickly jotted it down:

Spoon Bread

1 c. corn meal

2 c. water

Cook this in double boiler over boiling water until thick, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat, stir in 2 tab. butter substitute, 1 tsp. salt, 1 c. almond milk, egg substitute to equal one egg.

Pour into greased baking dish and bake at 350 deg. 45-50 min. Serve with apple butter.

I am not a fan of corn meal, but that apple butter had me salivating!

Another recipe I found at church. Yes, I have a new church since my old one closed down and made quite a few friends already. One lady gave me a recipe called “Rumaki.” She brought a plateful one Sunday and I was immediately mesmerized. I could have eaten the whole plateful!

Rumaki:

1 c. soy sauce

3 cans Reese whole water chestnuts (drained)

1 lb. sliced bacon

1/2 c. brown sugar.

Marinate water chestnuts in soy sauce for 30 minutes or longer. Cut each slice of bacon into three pieces. Cut on an angle to make the pieces longer. Wrap a piece of bacon around each water chestnut and secure with a toothpick. Sprinkle brown sugar onto each water chestnut and place on a cookie sheet (lined with parchment paper). Bake in preheated oven at 400 degrees for 20 to 25 minutes. A little note, Reese water chestnuts are larger than other brands. These will melt in your mouth!

My next recipe was a nice surprise, I noticed it in my medication instructions from Kroger’s Pharmacy.

Ginger Poached Pears:

3 cups diet ginger ale

2 tbsp. honey

1 tbsp. lemon zest or coarsely grated peel

1 tbsp. +1-1/2 tsp. shredded fresh ginger

4 large firm ripe green pears

4 ultra-thin slices of lemon, for decoration

4 large fresh mint leaves

Freshly grated nutmeg

2 tbsp. stirred light sour cream

Combine ginger ale, honey, lemon zest and ginger in deep saucepan and bring to a boil. Meanwhile, carefully peel 3/4 of each pear. Do not remove stem. Leave rounded and unpeeled. If pear starts to darken, brush with lemon juice. Place pears into liquid, lower heat, cover and simmer until almost tender, about 15-20 minutes. Turn pears to insure even cooking.

When cooked remove pears from liquid. Turn heat to high and reduce poaching liquid to 3/4 cup. Strain over pears and allow to cool. Place each pear in a shallow soup bowl. Ladle with syrup. Wrap a slice of lemon around the stem, tuck a mint leaf into the lemon slice and sprinkle with grated nutmeg. Drizzle with sour cream and serve.

This sounds so delicious!

It is not hard to eat healthily in this day and age. Eat lots of fruits and veggies, cut down on red meat and fried foods, add chicken and fish to your meals, and don’t forget the dairy products.

Thought for the day: When wealth is lost, nothing is lost. When health is lost, something is lost. When character is lost, all is lost! German proverb

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