Older Bolder Life

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the Older Bolder Life Friday Feast: Spicy Cashew Chicken Stir Fry

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As the weather begins to cool even the slightest bit (dammit, it was 98 last Sunday here in North Texas) with the arrival of the early fall season, my lovely wife has begun to pester me a bit to queue up some of our favorite stir fry recipes in the upcoming meal plan.

This Spicy Cashew Chicken Stir Fry, easily made with toasted hazelnuts if you’d rather, is one that we’ve been cooking as a family for over two decades now, it’s quick, simple, and once you have some elemental oriental sauces in the pantry and fridge, doesn’t require a special trip to hunt down any rare or unusual ingredients.

Granted, this is very much not an authentic Chinese stir fry recipe; it’s very much Americanized, and offered without apology otherwise.

We love to load this one up with lots of fresh mushrooms and the spicy peppers, which impart so much more flavor to the dish if you stir fry them alone for a few minutes before adding in the mushrooms and green onions.

The fresh juice adds an impressive flavor boost and a burst of needed acidity; unless you’re running insanely tight on your carb intake, by all means don’t think twice about juicing that tangerine or orange for the recipe. And by the way, Nom Nom Paleo has a nice compliant hoisin sauce if you’re concerned about that ingredient as well.

We’ve taken this recipe all around the Northern Rockies camping with the family; just pack up the marinated chicken in a container, the wok sauce in another, and the fresh vegetables in a third. Easy peasy, and you’ll impress the hell out of your fellow campers / river runners / cross-country skiers / picnic buddies on the road.

Make as big a batch as you dare, it’s great left over and reheated too.

6 boneless skinless chicken thighs
1 tbsp hoisin sauce
1 tbsp oyster sauce
1 tbsp dark sesame oil
1 tbsp Chinese rice wine or dry sherry
4 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 cup roasted hazelnuts or cashews
14-15 medium button mushrooms
6-8 green onions, trimmed
12-15 dried Chile de Arbol chiles
1/4 cup avocado oil

Wok Sauce
1/3 cup freshly squeezed tangerine or orange juice
1/4 cup Chinese rice wine or dry sherry
2 tbsp oyster sauce
1 tbsp hoisin sauce
1 tbsp dark sesame oil
1 tbsp red wine vinegar
1 tbsp cornstarch
2 tsp tangerine/orange zest, minced

Cut the chicken into thin strips in bitesized lengths and add to a bowl with the hoisin sauce, oyster sauce, sesame oil, wine or sherry, and minced garlic. Stir to mix well, cover and marinate for up to 8 hours.

Toast the nuts in a 325 oven; watch carefully so they don’t burn.

When ready to cook, clean, trim, and quarter the mushrooms, and slice the green onions into 1-inch long pieces on a sharp diagonal.

Heat your trusty wok over high heat, add 1/2 the oil, and just when beginning to give off a little smoke, stir fry the chicken until it changes color; remove to a plate when done.

Reheat the wok, add the rest of the oil, and add the chiles, stirring for a minute before adding the remainder of the vegetables. Stir fry until the mushrooms just begin to soften and the green onions brighten in color (2-3 minutes).

Now stir in the wok sauce, the chicken, and the nuts, keeping things moving until all ingredients are well coated and the sauce has thickened a bit. Taste and adjust the seasonings, then serve hot on heated plates, platters, or bowls.

Enjoy.

Inquiring Minds Want to Know: Older Bolder Links, Reads, Podcasts, Recipes, and More 14 October 2020

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Top of the Fold: Is the COVID-19 Game Changing a Bit?

If you haven’t read The Great Barrington Declaration yet, you need too; I posted it a couple of days ago and will have more to say in the next few days.

And of critical import, the WHO has backtracked this week on their previous recommendations regarding lockdowns. Here’s a snippet of an interview that started that ball rolling, and an example of the mainstream media’s take on the issue.

Three More Interesting COVID-19 Pieces You May Have Missed

The challenge of COVID-19: What should we do? (His recommendations on targeting our preventative healthcare efforts make this worth the read.)

Can wearable devices help detect COVID-19?

Weather impact on airborne coronavirus survival.

More Worthy Links: A Win for Walking, Weight Loss for Neuropathies, Cannabis Use in Pregnancy and More

A nice feature showing the power of a walking program.

Weight loss in obese people improves neuropathy symptoms (Not for the reasons you might expect, free Medscape account required).

Plasma exchange shows promise in early Alzheimer’s.

More data tying belly fat to increased all cause mortality.

Cannabis use during pregnancy may increase the child’s risk of psychosis.

Maternal antidepressant use and birth defects.

Hawaiin surfboard travels 8000km to the Philippines.

Were humans walking around Saudi Arabia 120,000 years ago?

One author’s list of purported exercises to lose belly fat.

Two Nifty Reads on Writing and Reading

Right Words: on how to write and what to read.

Why writing by hand makes kids smarter.

Podcast of the Week: Insulin Resistance and Fat Burning

Dr. Benjamin Bikman on Insulin Resistance.

Food, Glorious Food

Greek Chicken Breast Sauté

Back Pocket Balsamic Vinaigrette

Monday Must Read: The Great Barrington Declaration

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If you haven’t yet, you need to take a few minutes this morning and read The Great Barrington Declaration.

At a point in time where much of the very good, very solid science about COVID-19 is being buried by the media and various social media agents and search algorithms, this thoughtfully crafted, plain-spoken piece offering scientifically grounded and common-sense calls to further action, authored by an impeccably credentialed and well respected group of scientists, deserves thoughtful consideration.

I’ll hold off on elaboration this morning so as not to cloud their message; more to come.

the Older Bolder Friday Feast: Greek Chicken Breast Sauté

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As my lovely wife and I have been wrestling ife back under control post our recent move, I came across one of our favorite old cookbooks that’s now out of print. It’s one of two collections of recipes from chefs working in and around Santa Fe and neighboring areas in New Mexico.

We’ve harvested literally dozens of great recipes from these cookbooks over the years, tweaking them to be healthier with cleaner ingredients, and marveling all the while at the flavors that the tri-cultural melting pot that is New Mexico has produced over the years.

If you’ve never made it to Santa Fe, go visit sometime, soak up the history, hike in the nearby hills (they call them mountains – the terrain is gorgeous, but more hilly than mountainous), and enjoy some of the culinary treasures of the region. And by all means, you have to do breakfast at The Pantry on Cerrillos.

Back to today’s recipe, this Greek Chicken Breast Sauté is an incredibly simple, easy to prepare, and quick from prep to table recipe that has been a staple around our camp for over 20 years.

We’ve served it to high brow company, enjoyed it many times around a relaxed family dinner table, and even cooked it a few times on the road or river while camping.

I’ve left it to you to choose your flour of choice to dust the chicken breasts; I’m not convinced that any of the alternative grain / gluten free flours brown as well as conventional wheat flour, though you need to experiment yourself. To be honest, I often season the chicken well and sauté it without any flour at all, though we do miss the good crust it makes now and again.

Finally, this is one of those recipes that is better with really good olives, though you don’t need to break the bank buying insanely expensive ingredients – it works really well with the basics too.

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 cup seasoned flour of choice (salt, pepper, spices)
1/4 cup olive or avocado oil
1 and 1/2 cups dry white wine
1 cup fresh tomatoes, peeled, seeded, chopped
1/2 cup capers
2/3 cup black olives, pitted, sliced
2/3 cup green olives, pitted, sliced
1 tbsp fresh rosemary, chopped, or two fresh rosemary sprigs

Dredge the chicken in the seasoned flour (see comment above) and shake off the excess.

Heat your oil of choice in a large skillet over medium high heat, then sauté the chicken for 3 minutes per side until golden (but not cooked through). Add the wine and simmer for 5 – 6 minutes until slightly reduced, then reduce the heat to medium.

Now add the tomatoes, capers, both olives, and the rosemary; simmer for another 4-8 minutes until the sauce has slightly thickened and the chicken is just cooked through.

Serve immediately on warmed plates with the sauce spooned on top.

Enjoy.

Tip of the Week: The Great Courses

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Today’s unsolicited and unpaid product recommendation focuses on those who wisely have chosen, once their formal schoolin’ has finished, to continue a lifelong pursuit of learning.

Years ago a friend and mentor suggested we take a look at The Great Courses; back in that day they were only provided in a DVD format and typically had a pamphlet or small book to view as well. Today the courses are offered in a streaming format (downloadable as well), and you can buy them ala cart / by the course, or subscribe to an unlimited streaming platform they call The Great Courses Plus (our plan is locked in at roughly the cost of two lattes per month).

Worth a perusal today; bet you’ll see something that intrigues you…

Images via The Great Courses sites linked above.

the Older Bolder Life Friday Feast: Back Pocket Balsamic Vinaigrette

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One of my most beloved mentors taught my family many a worthy lesson that we’ve incorporated into our routine over the years. One of his favorites lessons had to do with hospitality, both providing and receiving gestures of hospitality, and he taught it using what he called his back pocket pancake recipe.

Without going into the long winded story that Ed would inevitably tell whenever the topic came up, his principle points were that hospitality is an art that takes repetition and practice to do well, and that when a guest in someones home, you needed to graciously accept the gift of hospitality extended you and offer a kind, and thankful, gesture in return.

One of the ways he did so was via what he called his back pocket pancake recipe; despite possessing a smart phone with more computing power than on the Apollo spacecraft, he always carried in his wallet a dog-eared and well-worn piece of paper upon which he’d scrawled the recipe for a delicious buttermilk pancake recipe. He used to boast that he’d pulled the recipe out and made pancakes for his various hosts on five different continents over the years.

I still carry an image of his original recipe on my phone, and have taken to carrying a set of “back pocket” recipes with me where ever I travel, though I favor salad dressing recipes instead of buttermilk pancakes.

My reasoning is pretty damned simple; most people don’t take the time to stir together simple yet tasty – and healthy – salad dressings at home, and these salad dressings can pull double duty as marinades and / or slathers for grilled meats and vegetables.

The two back pocket dressing recipes I reach for most often are this very Back Pocket Balsamic Vinaigrette and probably our house favorite, this nifty Chile Lime Vinaigrette.

This balsamic dressing recipe is a cinch to whisk or shake together, uses ingredients almost everyone has in the pantry and fridge, and tastes like a million bucks. A couple of nights ago we were pressed for time one evening, and a quick recipe of this dressing made a simple baby spinach and bacon salad feel (and taste) like a date night meal fit for a king.

Three quick thoughts on ingredients – one, use a good quality, aged balsamic (avoiding ones with added sweeteners, caramel color additives, etc); aged balsamic vinegars develop sweetness naturally and you might not feel the need to add honey (or the sweetener of your choice) at all – we usually don’t.

Two, recognizing that the classic formula for a vinaigrette used to be four parts oil to one part vinegar, we prefer this recipe closer to a 2:1 ratio; experiment yourself and adjust. And three, play around with various mustards too – we love this recipe with a spicy, rustic, Creole-style mustard (like Zatarains).

By the way, we prefer the texture and viscosity of the dressing when it’s shaken or whisked together, using a blender to combine makes for a bit “stiffer” dressing.

1/4 cup aged balsamic vinegar
2-3 tsp dijon or whole grain mustard
1 large garlic clove, minced
1/2 tsp good sea salt
1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper (fine)
1/2 to 3/4 cup good EVOO

Optional
1/2 tsp ground dried thyme
1 small shallot, minced
2 tbsp honey

Combine the vinegar, mustard, minced garlic, salt, and pepper in a small mixing bowl and whisk to combine. Whisk in the oil until the dressing is fully emulsified and smooth; you can combine in a blender – you’ll find it’s a little thicker (we prefer the hand-whisked consistency).

Another nifty trick for mixing this one is simply to combine all the ingredients in a small jar with a tight fitting lid and then shake, shake, shake until well combined.

Cheers.

the Older Bolder Life Friday Feast: (Primal) Texas Style Picadillo

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Growing up in the panhandle of Texas back in the day I had several friends whose families made picadillo routinely at home; we ate it in tacos, in big bowls over rice on cold, blustery days, in tortilla wraps, and even stirred into scrambled eggs now and again.

With the official transition to astrological fall this week, it’s time to begin to rotate some tasty soups, stews, chiles, and picadillo onto the menu.

Picadillo (according to the experts and food historians) claims its roots in a number of latin American countries, though a Filipino residency mate argued that his version from back home was the very best. Being from the Southwest and unabashedly heavily biased toward Tex-Mex and the hodge-podge of culinary history that makes up Texas cuisine, I tend to think of the picadillo we’re used to enjoying as a dish originating in Mexico and other countries on further south.

Picadillo is one of those simple, almost peasant foods that varies from region to region and family to family, and the version below should as always be considered a simple framework to start from.

We’ve tweaked the version I remember from days in the Panhandle to make it more Primal and healthy eating friendly, easy changes like grass-fed ground beef, healthier oil, and sweet potatoes instead of the classic russet. We also think it’s immeasurably better with just a bit of dried ground ancho chile powder in the skillet, and my favorite dish from years ago was dressed up a little with the addition of a handful of peas (though you’ll see raisins in a number of recipes floating around out there as well.

Don’t forget a bit of chopped cilantro, diced avocado, and a spritz of fresh lime juice at bare minimum to finish this one off…

1 lb grass-fed ground beef
2 tbsp avocado oil, divided
1-2 sweet potatoes of choice, peeled, 3/4-inch pieces
1 medium onion, small dice
1 medium poblano, stemmed, seeded, small dice
2-3 plum tomatoes, cored, chopped
3-4 garlic cloves, minced
1-2 serrano peppers, stemmed, seeded, finely chopped OR
1-2 jalapeno peppers, stemmed, seeded, finely chopped
1 and 1/2 tsp kosher salt or 1 tbsp Diamond Crystal salt
1-2 tsp ground cumin
1-2 tsp ground dried ancho pepper (optional)
1 tsp freshly ground pepper
2 cups chicken stock or broth
1/2 cup peas, optional

To Finish
1/3 cup chopped cilantro, leaves and small stems
Sliced radishes
Diced fresh avocado
Crumbled cotija cheese (feta plays well too)
Fresh lime juice

Heat 1 tbsp of oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat; now sauté the beef until browned but not fully cooked through (6-7 minutes). Remove the beef to a small bowl using a slotted spoon.

Back the heat down to medium, add the rest of the oil, and quickly sauté the potatoes until just beginning to brown (3-4 minutes); remove to a small plate and set aside.

Now add the onions, diced peppers, garlic, salt, cumin, and black and ancho peppers, stirring occasionally, and cook until the vegetables are just beginning to tenderize (4-5 minutes).

Add the beef (and any juices) back in, along with the stock and peas, and simmer for 15 minutes. Now add the potatoes back in, stir to mix, and simmer another 5-7 minutes. Now add the chopped tomatoes and simmer another 3-5 minutes.

You’ll know you’re there when the beef is fully cooked, the potatoes are just tender, and just about all of the liquid has evaporated off. Taste for salt and cumin, stir in the cilantro at service, and finish with whatever add-ons you have on hand.

Enjoy.

Inquiring Minds Want to Know: Older Bolder Links, Reads, Podcasts, Recipes, and More 23 September 2020

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Top of the Fold: This Week’s COVIC-19 Must Read

This week’s must read is an open letter from a Belgian physicians group dealing with COVID-19 issues; a number of physician colleagues have forward this over recently, and several have been censured by their employers for even relaying the message, much less agreeing with the points therein.

This Week’s Eclectic Topic Collection: Vit D, Antioxidants, Cognitive Screening, Happiness and More

Is low free 25(OH)D Vit D the best predictor of all-cause mortality? (Free Medscape account required)

Impressive: A single “dose” of wild blueberries improved cognitive function in middle aged adults.

Are cognitive screening tools any good? (Free Medscape account required)

Time flies, even more so when you’re exhausted.

Condemning canola: How Canada convinced the world to eat engine lubricant.

The happiest states in America. (Looking at the most often weak criteria for lists like these is of course always the key; posted for entertainment value more than anything.)

The healthiest communities in America; see comment above.

Hey California and Oregon: Cattle might be a secret weapon in fight against wildfires.

The Obligatory COVID-19 Links from the Week You Probably Haven’t Seen

Are there ethnic differences in susceptibility to COVID-19?

NIH is “very concerned” about vaccine trial side effects.

A deeper look at a region’s asymptomatic carrier rates; impressive.

Other deadly viruses that vanished without a trace.

Podcast of the Week: Robert Silverman, DC

Robert Silverman, DC on the COVID-19 immune response and the gut-brain connection.

Food, Glorious Food

A nifty article about how sustainable ranching practices can boost quality and production.

Sunday Afternoon Roast Chicken.