Meat and Poultry

No Ketchup in My Kitchen

Sanura

Turkey Meatloaf

My office laughed at me, because I admitted there isn’t a bottle of ketchup in my refrigerator. It’s a condiment that isn’t hated or loved. Just a sweet bottle in every American kitchen, except for mine. The office conversation started, because I told them how ketchup packets were found ‘hidden’ in a kitchen drawer from a past delivery. My other half placed them there, and I knew to leave them alone. Packets of soy sauce, duck sauce, mustard, salt and pepper from previous delivery services are immediately thrown away, because we have better quality bottles in the pantry cabinet. It’s a better compromise, because a large bottle of unused ketchup sitting in the refrigerator is what I don’t want. Since, that office conversation, I’ve thought of buying ketchup, but mind changes when approaching the cash register.
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United We Stand, Divided We Fall

Sanura

Roast Red Pepper, Steak and Feta Quesadilla with Roast Garlic Yogurt Sauce

Words escape my mind in an attempt to write a follow-up to last year’s story, Vanilla isn’t White. Instead, breaking news headlines are a cacophony of words. But, long-live visual artists who have the courage to inspire us into action and remind us that today’s politics aren’t normal. This past summer, The Brooklyn Museum had an inspiring exhibit, We Wanted a Revolution: Black Radical Women, 1965–85. Last week, I visited the Whitney Museum’s exhibit, An Incomplete History of Protest: Selections from the Whitney’s Collection, 1940–2017. It was at the Whitney Museum, I read a poem by W. H. Auden: September 1, 1939. It’s an inspirational poem written on the onset of World War II. Sadly, Auden’s words continue to be applicable today.

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Eat More Vegetables

Sanura

Cumin top sirloin steak with peas and carrots

“Top sirloin steak isn’t the most flavorful part, but it’s not bad,” said Dad. Challenge duly noted. A few weeks ago, I took on a different challenge starting with a courtesy shipment of Butcher Box’s beef and pork. Prior to the shipment, I wasn’t craving the usual chicken and seafood meals. For some reason, they were becoming boring dishes.

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Diversifying Protein Sources with Maple Ginger Pork Chops and Colcannon

Sanura

Maple Ginger PorkChop and Colcannon

The definition of healthy cooking is a different meaning to everyone. There are vegetarians, pescatarian, only chicken and fish, paleo and the list goes on. In this household, I’m weary of our mostly vegetables, poultry and seafood diet. A couple holidays ago, Dad placed a few smoked pork chops in front of Jacinto and me. In less than ten minutes, except for the 2 pork chops Dad quickly saved, we ate them all. The flavor was juicy, savory and different. Since then, I often think about ‘diversifying’ our protein sources.

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Habari Gani? Peanut-Tomato Chicken Stew

Sanura

Peanut-Tomato Chicken Stew

These past couple of years, a few food blogger friends and I, contributed recipes to KwanzaaCulinarians.com. This would’ve been our third year, but I needed to rest. I regret that we failed our fans in this decision, but this is a better solution for me. In addition to taking a relaxing vacation from my 9 to 5 job, I’m enjoying this time of year more than requesting 31 food bloggers and chefs to take time from their busy schedules to write Kwanzaa-inspired stories and recipes. Read more →