The Lil' Urban Gourmet Cookbook

By Odie Hawkins

The Lil Gourmet Cookbook focuses on food that is good for you. The best kind of food and exercise create a harmonious lifestyle. Its not about a lot of running and kicking but about being sensible and consistent. There are foods we must forget about in order to have a healthier lifestyle. They fall into many categories, but basically, they are foods that may taste good but will inevitably make you unhealthy. Lets eat right. Lets be right.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: Jan 16, 2015
• ISBN: 9781496961181

Odie Hawkins

Odie Hawkins was a member of the Watts Writer’s workshop that spawned the Watts Prophets, a collection of spoken-word artists, considered the forebears of modern hip-hop.He is the co-author of the novel “Lady Bliss,” and the author of “The Snake, Mr. Bonobo Bliss, and Shackles Across Time. 2011 he was a panelist at the Modern Language Assoc. at the Hilton, LA Live. Additional information may be found on Facebook page, his website:www.odiehawkins.com., his blog, and/or just Google his name.

Book preview

The

Lil’ Urban Gourmet

Cookbook

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Odie Hawkins

Photos by: Zola Salena-Hawkins

AuthorHouse™

1663 Liberty Drive

Bloomington, IN 47403

www.authorhouse.com

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© 2015 Odie Hawkins. All rights reserved.

Photos by: Zola Salena-Hawkins

www.flicker.com/photos/32886903@N02

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

Published by AuthorHouse 01/16/2015

ISBN: 978-1-4969-6117-4 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4969-6118-1 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2014922961

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models,

and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

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Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

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ILLUSTRATIONS

Eggplant

Eggplant with cheese

Fish, Noodle, Greens

Sardines, Noodles, Greens

Stuffed Bell Pepper, Noodles, Eggs, Wine

Rice, Sardines, Crackers

Tofu, Lentils, Beef

Chicken, Cheese/Green Grits, Bread and Cheese

Kale, Cheese Bread and Eggs

Steam Rice, Mushrooms, Beans

Franks, Onions, Greens

Eggs, Onions, Sausage, Tomatoes

Garbanzo Beans, Noodles, Greens

Crabs, Onions, Potatoes

Chicken Breast and Naan

Sweet Potatoes, Fish

Shrimp, Rice, Carrots, Broccoli

Fish, Onions, Okra, Burrito Shells

Cheese Grits

Baked Potato, Onions, Tomatoes, Lamb

Spring Rolls, Banana Bread

Shrimp, Greens, Potatoes

Tuna, Peppers, Greens, Fish Sticks, & Naan

Beer Examples:

Corn Cakes

Tuna and Tomatoes, Limes

Panchan – Shrimp, Sweet Potatoes, Beans, Tomatoes

Watermelon, Melon, Grape, Blueberries

Zola’s Favorite Beer is in Ghana, West Africa

Tai Chi Fan at the Acacia Guest Lodge

The Acacia Guest Lodge

Ground Nut Stew with Smoked Fish

Chef Faustina

Breaking Chilean Biscuits Together

Chicken Salad

Beer or Coffee

Zola has a Salmon Salad

Beer or Tea

Tom Yom Soup

Burrito Special

Chicken and Apples

Dedication

To My Mother, who made cuisine out of scraps…

A s a lifelong disciple of slow cooking, as opposed to fast foods, I’ve discovered a number of nutritional tidbits without attending one class in nutrition, dieting heavily or surfing on the Health Channel.

Logically, I came to the conclusion that what we eat should be good for you, taste good and not make you feel unhealthy. What that means for most adults is that they don’t gain weight or develop a heart problem from eating.

(Slight error here; the weight gain will naturally occur if the eater doesn’t exercise).

So, there it is, food that is good for you, and physical exercise. The recipes in the Lil Gourmet Cookbook will focus on food, you’ll have to locate your own exercise pattern.

(Hedging just a bit, stay away from violent exercises, they require lots of energy and afterwards, days, weeks later, the pounds are bound to return, the minute you stop doing the violent thing).

The best kinds of exercise, like foods, are those that create a harmonious lifestyle. It’s not about a lot of running and kicking, but about being sensible and consistent.

And finally, there is a 99% chance that no one, male or female, would be capable of doing Tae Woe for the rest of their natural lives anyway. In effect, Tae Woe and the related workouts are fast foods. They offer short-term results, but are basically impractical in the long run.

Modern healthcare, proper nutrition and exercises inform us that more of us are living longer, therefore we need to become involved with physical exercises that we can do, effortlessly, until the day we die.

How does one choose a lifetime lifestyle exercise pattern? Easy. Take a hard look at the exercise styles that might fit your metabolic/psychological outlook. Some people like to jog, some like Tai Chi, some will swim or rock climb.

Swimming is probably one of the best ways to stay healthy, and you can do it all your life. The important thing is to do something physically challenging, every day.

Now lets have something to eat. But let’s not eat too much of anything. And some things you’ll just have to forget about eating altogether. This will be the hardest thing for some people to deal with, the reality they will have to face not eating certain foods.

What are these foods we must forget about in order to have a healthier lifestyle? They fall in to many categories, but basically they are foods that may taste good, but will inevitably make you unhealthy.

Nowadays, with the ingredients and amounts of this and that plainly listed on the package. Bottle, can, container, it is almost as easy to determine how dangerous food is, as it is to determine how toxic cigarette smoking is. And yet people still smoke. It comes down to personal responsibility. Doesn’t it?

The key thing in determining what you’re going to eat, how much of it, and when (?), stems from your sense of responsibility, in relationship to your good health.

(We had kale, boiled potatoes and mackerel with dill on it last night. Good meal, costs three dollars to feed two adults. The idea is good nutrition, not expensive nutrition).—three dollars

Strange prologue to a cookbook, huh? But there are some things that must be said before we get into this.

People who persist in eating the wrong foods (this goes for vegetarians too), when they know better, are simply exercising poor judgment and demonstrating lack of foresight. If they are persistent in their pursuit of poor health, they will achieve their goal. No doubt about it.

For those who don’t know any better, they simply need more information. Hopefully, the Lil’ Urban Gourmet Cookbook, with its emphasis on good tastes, and good nutrition, will supply the needed information. And, despite what might seem to be an ironic title to some, is firmly on the side of excellent meals.

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The Lil’ Urban Gourmet Cookbook will be fooling a lot people who automatically figure that if the word Lil’ Urban is attached to it, it must be cheap.

As most of us who live in the urban areas of America already know, life in the urban areas is quite expensive. Medicine, general health care, housing, redlined insurance rates, food, whatever, costs more, comparatively, than it does in other residential areas. It is expensive to live in such areas. Now then, having preached that sermon…..

The Lil’ Urban Gourmet Cookbook, will require some relatively expensive expenditures, initially, mainly in the spice area. Spices for many of us consist of basically two – salt ‘n pepper. Plus the various hot sauces that many of us like too much. The serious Urban Gourmet should stock up on the following spices turmeric, curry powder, dill, marjoram, oregano, bay leaves, anise, crushed parsley, garlic, cumin seed, crushed onion, basil and thyme.

All of those spices (except for turmeric and curry powder) can be purchased in a spice rack that has forty different spices (some not mentioned here). The spice rack is fairly expensive and you won’t be able to find it in your local market, but the effort and expense to obtain it will pay off with more flavorful foods.

The Lil’ Gourmet Cookbook cuisine is broad ranging and adventurous, it must be given the fact that good food doesn’t have boundaries.

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The dishes/foods in our book haven’t been broken down into morning/noon/night appetizers/main course categories. Any dish listed can be an appetizer, a snack or dinner; it’s simply a matter of quantity and taste. Use these for Cuisine Articles.

Once again, the importance of it being good for you, tasting good to you, and not making you unhealthy is where the inner harmony starts.

In the same way that a serious weight watcher will discard his/her fat clothes, as they ascend the scale to good health, and learn how to maintain the weight that best suits them, we must discard certain items in order to get into the framework of the Gourmet Cookbook.

Olive oil is not more expensive than some other greases, but it’s healthier to cook with. That’s the key ingredient of our cuisine – health. Use the other oils to shine your shoes with, or whatever, but don’t cook with them.

Try this. Buy a small bottle of olive oil (you’ll find out about the different grades/pressings and so on