#GardenCuizine #Recipe: Cajun Country Cornbread with Chia Seeds and Garden Chile Peppers @American_Heart @nih_nhlbi

 Cajun Country Cornbread

with Chia Seeds and Chile Peppers

Garden fresh Jalapenos or any of your favorite hot peppers will spice up this wholesome country cornbread recipe. Mom does not like foods too hot or spicy, but she loves this recipe! 

This Cajun Cornbread recipe was inspired by Chef Paul Prudhomme's Louisiana Kitchen cookbook's Cornbread/Cornbread Muffin recipe. Chef Paul's cuisine is classic New Orleans style food at its best. We love NOLA foods, but as we do with any recipe, to optimize it for good heart health - always look at the sodium and fat content and reduce it if necessary. 

• Studies have shown that reduced sodium intake can lower blood pressure and prevent and control hypertension and prevent cardiovascular disease. 
• The current Dietary Guidelines recommend that individuals consume less than 2,300 mg of sodium per day. 
• The American Heart Association recommends even less, to no more than 1,500 mg of sodium per day. 
• Using salt in baked goods can jack-up your sodium intake. 
• Just one teaspoon of salt contains 2,300 mg of sodium! 
• Bottom line: use less salt in recipes, no added salt at the table, read food labels when buying foods, and beware of high sodium in restaurant meals and fast foods.

This recipe was adjusted to increase whole grains and keep the natural corn flavor and cornbread taste, while omitting excess sodium and fat. Fresh corn kernels can be added in addition to fresh herbs and/or fiber and omega-3-rich chia or flax seeds.

Putting it all together

Serves 8-10 
Ingredients

1 cup (125g) unbleached all purpose flour

2/3 cup (81g) cornmeal
1/2 cup (58g) corn flour
1/3 cup (40g) white whole wheat flour

1/3 cup (67g) sugar

1 Tablespoon (15g) baking powder

1 teaspoon chia seeds
1/4 teaspoon (1.5g) salt

1/3 cup corn kernels (optional)
1 1/3 cups 2% reduced fat milk
1 large egg
Dried or fresh minced hot peppers (Thai, Jalapeno, etc) 

2 Tablespoons (28g) butter, no salt

3 Tablespoons olive or canola oil

• In a large bowl, combine all the dry ingredients.
• In a small pot melt the butter with the oil. Stir in the hot peppers to infuse their flavor; simmer one minute. Stir in the milk. Set aside to cool.
• Whisk the egg into the cooled milk and oil mixture.
• Make a well in the dry mixture; add the liquid mixture to the dry and stir gently using a wooden spoon or rubber spatula. Be careful not to over mix.
• Spread into a lightly sprayed or buttered 8-10-inch baking dish or 10-inch cast iron skillet. Bake 350°F until done, about 30-50 minutes; time will vary depending on size of your baking dish.
• Serve with hot pepper jelly

Buon Appetito!

GardenCuizine Nutrition Analysis Corn Bread made with whole corn. Calculated from USDA nutrient values. 
Good Source: Whole Grains, Dietary Fiber, Protein, Thiamin, Riboflavin, Calcium, Selenium 
Serving size 1/10 of recipe (84g); Calories 228; total fat 9g (13%DV); saturated fat 2g (12%DV); Omega-3 582mg; cholesterol 30mg; sodium 226mg (9%DV); total carbohydrate 33g (11%DV, 2 CHO exchanges); dietary Fiber 2.5g (10%DV); sugars 8g; Protein 5g (10%DV); Thiamin 0.2mg (12%DV); Riboflavin 0.2mg (11%DV); Calcium 134mg (13%DV); Selenium 12mcg (17%DV)
Percent Daily Values (%DV) are based on a caloric intake of 2,000 calories for adults and children age 4 or older

Related Links:  
Check out Chia - A Super Salvia by Diana Wind
Chia - Super Seed Nutrition
Chia - An Indigenous Food 
Homemade Ground Pepper Spices Grow your own Hot Peppers!
Reduce Salt and Sodium in Your Diet

#NOLA Street Music like you've never heard before...#GardenCuizine #Music #Guitar #Jazz #Violin #Blues

NOLA Street Music 

like you've never heard before...

On our recent visit to New Orleans Louisiana on a walk through the French Quarter, we discovered this fantastic violin and guitar duet playing on Royal Street. Meet violinist Tanya Huang and guitarist Dorise Blackmon. Check out their website for more information: www.tanyandorise.com.

Related Links: Tanya & Dorise Cooking Up Some Good Music by: Terri-Dumas
Gardens of New Orleans by Diana Wind

What a Weekend in #NOLA Vieux To Do June 2011 #GardenCuizine #LASeafoodFest

What a Weekend in New Orleans!

You can expect to find good food, fun and festivals all the time in New Orleans. We always try to experience different restaurants when we go too. This visit we checked out Chef John Besh’s brasserie restaurant ‘Lüke’ and Emeril’s Delmonico where we enjoyed a delicious garden salad, perfectly cooked Cajun seasoned redfish with roasted red pepper veloute and cinnamon beignets with chicory coffee crème anglaise. On the weekend we attended ‘Vieux To Do’, a festival trio of the Louisiana Seafood festival, Cajun-Zydeco music festival sponsored by the Jazz and Heritage Foundation and the Creole Tomato Festival sponsored by the French Market. Along the way we admired magnificent artwork: paintings, drawings, portraits and sculptures by the many artists surrounding the park at Jackson Square. The festivities stretched eight city blocks from Jackson Square to the old U.S. Mint. My distress for the hard working carriage horses in the hot southern sun lessened as the festive music penetrated my soul. A highlight of the festival included New Orleans top chefs and their food demonstrations. 

Some of the top chefs at the festival were: Chef Chris Lusk, Café Adelaide; Chef Patrick Henry, Taste and See Catering; Chef Tory McPhail, Commander’s Palace; Chef An Howard, Rouses Market; Chef Diana Chauvin, La Thai Cuisine; Chef Brian Katz, Red Fish Grill; Chef Keith Frentz, LOLA and Chef Ryan Gall of Salu.  

New Orleans Culture
                                                
Horse and mule-drawn carriages are an integral part of New Orleans culture. They can be boarded in the heart of the French Quarter, on the side of Jackson Square throughout the day. We always see them; I saw the carriages on Friday taking tourists around to see the sights. It was a hot day, over 92 degrees, but not as hot as New Orleans gets in July and August. One of the horses caught my attention because he was heavily frothing at the mouth. Globs of white foam dripped to the hot street beneath his harnessed mouth (not an acceptable small amount of foam indicative of a wet mouth). I asked myself, am I the only one to be concerned by this? Why is the carriage rider just sitting back and ignoring this? The horse appeared to be breathing heavily too.

Vieux To Do
                                                  
The next day began the big weekend in New Orleans - three festivals rolled into one, known as the Vieux To Do. The streets were packed, the day was sunny and hot - the carriages were busy. The horses tongues were hanging out, some were breathing harder than others. I saw the same horse I had seen the previous day, still frothing at the mouth, but not as much. I had to approach the carriage driver. He leaned forward as I approached. I looked at him - then at his horse, “He doesn’t look too healthy,” I said. “He’s fine,” the carriage driver replied. “I do this every day for a living,” he added in a somewhat arrogant tone. I walked away feeling helpless and said a prayer for the animals.

Upbeat Zydeco music filled the air as we approached the French Market Creole Tomato festival. The market was packed with visitors from around the world. The Creole tomatoes weren't quite ripe yet, but hey, the show must go on! A huge fan blew a cooling mist to anyone who stood in front of it. We cooled off and enjoyed some music before strolling to the neighboring tented area featuring chefs doing cooking demonstrations. Top U.S. food bloggers were invited to sit in the front row, we sat in the back as we listened to Chef John Folse talk about the history of New Orleans cuisine. He also mentioned ‘Restaurant R’evolution’ his new business with former executive Chef Rick Tramonto of ‘Tru’ (a Chicago restaurant offering progressive French cuisine) set to open in 2011 at the Royal Sonesta Hotel in New Orleans. 

Photo collage copyright (C) 2011 Wind. All rights reserved. 

Editor’s comment: Regarding the carriage horses: As a former small business owner, I by no means wish to negatively impact anyone's livelihood. All I hope for is humane and fair treatment for all animals.

Gardens and Summer Cookin' in New Orleans.

..coming soon

If you happen to read this, please feel free to post your favorite garden areas and restaurants for delicious gourmet food in New Orleans. I'll be writing about it.

Thanks! ~ChefDi

(photo: Saint Charles Avenue Streetcar on Canal Street ~ GNU Free Documentation License, Wikipedia)

Hurricane Katrina

With all the media coverage of Hurricane Katrina, there is still not much mention yet of the damage to the popular and well known restaurants and eateries in the New Orleans area. Many of these restaurants are independently owned.

I would like to see, if in addition to the Louisiana Restaurant Assoc. and the other area Associations, the National Restaurant Association also start a collection for the restaurant businesses that did not have flood insurance and were damaged by the hurricane http://www.restaurant.org/katrina/index.cfm

Please support all... but especially support the restaurant owners. A rebuilding community will surely need those local restaurants to reopen ASAP!

~ChefDi