No leftovers!

Sometimes it’s all in the presentation.

Dr. Tae Yun Kim always puts great emphasis on the right presentation, whether that be food, or flowers, or a gift. When you want to show someone you really love them, you will probably cook with all your heart and set up a beautiful table and have candlelight….you wouldn’t just throw down a paper plate with a hamburger from a fast food place, right?  This presentation thing is the same with letters, resumes, cover letters and pretty much every aspect of life!

So, in my last post I introduced you to one of my childhood favorites.  When I made a second batch (just purely for taking pictures, cough cough) I had made way too much of the filling.  Now, as I was looking at the bowl full of (albeit very delicious tasting) goop, I got all kinds of ideas what to do with it.

Remembering Dr. Tae Yun Kim‘s words, I realized that putting out that bowl of goop and telling people how great it tastes, just wouldn’t do.  I mean, look at the stuff!

However, didn’t I say in my previous post that it should have the consistency of cake pops??  Oh yes!

So, you can guess what I did!  Go ahead, and to the same!  And if you really want to take this over the top, freeze this for a bit – and then enjoy this cool, new treat!

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Possibly the best chicken salad that I have ever made/tasted

Don’t go by the picture please and trust me on this.  Ok?  This is really really good!

I was going to insert an appropriate quote from Dr. Tae Yun Kim, something to the effect of “don’t be fooled by your 5 senses” but then I read the end of her book, “The Silent Master,” and it is simply beautiful, and I wanted to share it with you, so bear with me please.

“We live in a wonderful time called now.  In this moment, everything true about you is waiting to be recognized and expressed.  Everything in the past is gone. Tomorrow will never come.  There is always only now.  You can take charge, take action, and create freedom for yourself.

Right here and right now let’s start celebrating!  Freedom is real.  Freedom is possible.  You have power, truth, beauty, and potential within you alway waiting to be discovered, always waiting to be expressed.  Brighter and more precious than diamonds, warm as the spring sun and beautiful like spirals of galaxies sprinkled over this vast universe, your Silent Master awaits your return, so that together you will come forth as one radiant being in charge of your destiny.  What is stopping you?  What is holding you back?  You are free to be free!  Spread your wings!  Fly and be free!”

So, now, back to making an awesome chicken salad!  We had some very hot days last week, and cooking wasn’t on my mind.  Yet, with a summer-time Jung Suwon potluck in the backyard, something had to be done!  This was one of those dishes that came together simply using what I already had at home.  Luckily that included an organic, roasted chicken, from Whole Foods!  I quickly boiled about 6 – 7 eggs and chilled them.

I started by taking all the meat off the chicken and chopping it (several of our Jung Suwon warriors have to watch their cholesterol, so I didn’t use the skin.)  into bite size pieces.  NORMAL bite sized pieces please, not hulk, and not ant sized either!

After that, I chopped up the eggs, again, not too fine and not too huge, and add to the chicken.  Chop some celery (washed and peeled) maybe a handful, and add, and also add a handful of chopped tomatoes (firm ones, and take out the liquidy part.)  Chop some olives fine, and add, as well as a good handful of green onions, both white and green parts, chopped finely.  Add some marinated artichoke hearts, chopped into small pieces, a total of a good handful ( 😉 ), and a handful of marinated mushrooms, also cut into pieces.

Now, gently mix it all together, and add gluten-free, organic, olive oil based mayonnaise, just enough to make it moist.  Add salt (I use Himalayan salt) and garlic pepper to taste, and let sit in refrigerator for a couple of hours, to let the flavors do their thing.

Of course, there are hundreds or even thousands of ways how to make a chicken salad.  This one just happens to be my current favorite.  With  Dr. Tae Yun Kim’s own words, “it is your life, and your world!  Don’t let anyone stand in your way!”

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Old world cabbage rolls – Jung Suwon style

I feel like I haven’t posted here in a very long time – it’s been really really busy in my life as a Jung Suwon warrior, and that’s the way I like it!  Great Grandmaster Tae Yun Kim says that keeping busy keeps us young in body, mind, and spirit, and I do feel that!

Even during the hot summer months it gets cool at night here in the Bay area, and so I like to make summery, yet warming dishes for dinner, that are also substantial enough to feed hungry Jung suwon warriors!

My mother’s stuffed cabbage rolls come to mind, and I just made them a couple of days ago.  It’s been hard to re-create her recipes, because she only took a little bit of this and some of that, and in addition, she never even knew what gluten-free was!  And of course I am always trying to incorporate Great Grandmaster Tae Yun Kim’s teachings into the way I cook, with the best ingredients and only the best of thoughts in my mind.

Great teacher that she is Great Grandmaster Tae Yun Kim has been encouraging me to be creative, and find new ways to make tasty food, that nourishes and heals and tastes good at the same time!  So, here we go:

To make this version of stuffed cabbage, I use Nappa cabbage, and carefully separate the leaves off the head, and then quickly put them into almost boiling water just long enough to make the leaves pliable, without breaking.  I used to try to just boil the whole head and then peel off the leaves, but that never worked for me.  Great Grandmaster Tae Yun Kim compares the cabbage to a fist: just like each finger, each leaf in itself, is weak and cannot survive on its own, but together with all the other leaves, it makes a strong head of cabbage (or, all the fingers together, make a strong fist!) !  Have you ever tried to break a full head of cabbage?  See?  In our case, it’s good that we can peel off each leaf!

For the sauce, if I have leftover spaghetti sauce, it’s perfect.  But if not, I make a quick tomato sauce from scratch, like this:

Saute, in olive oil, a chopped up onion, and some minced garlic, I would use a couple of table spoons, and add chopped fresh tomatoes.  I only use fresh tomatoes for my sauces, but I am sure canned would work well too.

I would also add some chopped mushrooms and parsley and saute for a bit and then add a little good quality red wine (I don’t ever use cooking wine, they add a bunch of stuff to it).  If the sauce is too thick at this point, I add some good quality all natural spaghetti sauce from a jar, or if I have some broth, I add that.

For the filling, I saute mushrooms, garlic and chopped onions and add some pre-cooked ground beef, and some cooked rice, add some chopped parsley and fresh marjoram, and loosely fill the cabbage leaves with this.  Put filling on one side of leaf, then roll up and put seam side on bottom and put in roasting pan.  When finished, put your tomato sauce over it, and finish in pre-heated oven (350) for 20 minutes to half hour.  If you like, you could sprinkle some cheese on it before serving!

Now, “dig it in!”  as Great Grandmaster Tae Yun Kim likes to say, after giving thanks to God for a most delicious meal!

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Jung SuWon Style healthy appetizer

 

Sometimes, like right now, the weather is really really hot, and you don’t feel like cooking – especially after a hard Jung SuWon sparring class.  You are too hot, still sweating, but you want something substantial to eat. 

Devoted Martial Artists, such as Grandmaster Tae Yun Kim, take care of body, mind and spirit.  She teaches that you need to keep your body healthy and happy, so that your soul is excited to live in it! 

So, here is something she taught me how to make, a food that is well balanced and will make you feel good inside and out.

As for quantities, well, I’ll have to follow the directions of a funny, cute old Jewish cook book I ran across recently:  “you want a lot – you make a lot.  You don’t want so much, you don’t make so much.”

With this in mind, have the following ready:

1. Thin slices of a beef roast (any leftovers will do, but in a pinch you can use the stuff you get at the store
2. a good brand spicy mustard
3. avocado
4. kosher dill pickles, or any pickles to your liking
5. cheese, cut into thin strips (this will depend on what you have at home, or what you prefer and come to think of it, usually you only have at home what you want anyhow.. 🙂  )
6. leaf lettuce

Spread the mustard generously onto the beef slices, add avocado and cheese “sticks”, add thinly cut pickly strips, sprinkle a little vinegar, roll up and serve on a bed of lettuce, and with some (homemade) bread.

You can, of course, vary this quite a bit.  Instead of, or in addition to, the avocado, you can also put in refried beans.  You can cut olives into slices and add, or slices of tomatoes. 

This was just the basic recipe, which in itself is very good and very satisfying.  It will restore and rebuild your muscles, and get your body machine going again.  If you like this, go ahead and start experimenting wtih your favorite ingredients.  I hear it’s really really good with Kim chi…….

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