The Dinner Hour

Boxed food, the good kind

2011-11-15T14:48:00.000-08:00

Recently when my friend Heather was dropping off my weekly goodies from her grocery delivery business, she said she had a deal for me. She'd leave me a small cardboard box full of winter veg if I'd cook it up, write it down and pass it along. Sounded like a fair trade to me.

Here's what was in my box:

1 butternut squash
4 medium carrots
2 bunches bok choy
1 bunch of kale
1 lemon cucumber
2 kohlrabi
1 yellow summer squash
4 habaneros
several turnips
handful of potatoes
couple of jalapenos
few other random peppers
dozen or so small, hot green chilies

And here's what I did with it:

Summer squash and kale saute. Nice, quick side dish or part of a veg entree on top of rice, pasta or a baked potato. Slice veg. Heat a tablespoon or two of oil in a heavy-bottomed skillet. Add squash and season with salt and pepper. Give the squash time to brown and get yummy before pushing it around the pan. Once the squash is done, add the kale and a touch more oil and cook, moving veggies around the pan for a minute or two. Season with more salt. Turn the heat off and remove from pan.

Pepper preserves. The habaneros and tiny green chilies are too hot for my crowd, so I dried them in my dehydrator. Simple enough. Just cut off the stems and threw them in. I store the in an air-tight container (read: old peanut butter jar) with other dried chilies. I use them when cooking beans, in soups, dips, casseroles, etc. The handful of jalapenos were married with the remaining ones from my own garden for a batch of jalapeno jelly. Yum.
Pear and Butternut Squash Soup. Cut off both ends of the squash. Then cut in half, lengthwise. Scoop out seeds (I use a grapefruit spoon) and discard. Rub a little oil, salt and pepper on the exposed flesh of the squash and roast in a 400 degree oven, flesh side down, until the squash is fork tender. Remove from oven and let cool completely (if you can do this the night before, you'll make quick work of your soup the next day). Once completely cool, you can easily peel away the skin and discard. Saute one small onion in a stock pot. Add a few cups of stock (veg or chicken). Add squash and a can of pears and the juice. Use an immersion blender (or work in batches with a food processor or blender) to puree. Heat pureed soup and finish with cream, milk or a few tablespoon of butter. Serve hot topped with creme fraiche or sour cream and crusty bread.
Dress up a salad. Kohlrabi looks funny with it's tough outer skin, and stems shooting out all around. It's actually a very nice, mild flavor that can add a bit of a crunch (think jicama). To prep, pull off the leaves (which could be swapped for kale in many recipes). Use a paring knife to peel off the fibrous skin. Then slice, cut matchstick pieces, cube or grate. Toss in a salad along with that lemon cucumber. Or munch on it with carrot sticks and apples for a healthy snack.
Bok Choy, cherry tomatoes and fried egg over rice. Trim the end off the bok choy and slice crosswise into inch-wide strips. Add a bit of oil to a hot skillet and add the bok choy. Season with salt and pepper and cook until nearly done. Add tomatoes and cook just until burst. Remove from skillet and dump directly onto cooked rice. In the same pan, fry an egg. Slide cooked egg off the skillet and on top the veg. Season with salt and pepper.
Curried Root Veggies. Prep and slice carrots, potatoes and turnips into similar-size pieces. Toss with oil, salt, pepper and curry powder. Spread in a single layer onto a rimmed baking sheet. Roast in a 400 degree oven until fork tender and veggies brown nicely. Another veggie that will merry well in this mix is cauliflower. This is a great side dish or serve atop coconut rice for an entree.

(These veggies were fine, but they would have been better with a bit more time in the oven to get nice and browned. I had screaming kids, so I pulled mine a bit early. Do whatever keeps you sane!)

Caterpillar Cake!

2011-10-31T09:59:00.000-07:00

I am a big planner about some things. And others, well, I do better if I just start working and create as I go. This frustrates the heck out of the Hubs at times, but, alas, I'll call it one of my more endearing qualities.

I've been saying for about two weeks that I was going to make Carter a caterpillar cake for his birthday. I didn't exactly have the execution planned out, just the idea. His birthday was Sunday, so by Saturday I thought I better get to it. I had nearly all of the ingredients on hand except powdered sugar, and I still needed to get dinner supplies, too. So we loaded up and headed to Safeway, boys in tow, to buy four pounds of confectioner's sugar, a package of hot dogs, buns and two bottles of wine. The teenage checker, I'm sure probably gave me a low score on the Mom-of-the-Year scale, especially considering the roaming 3-year-old boy who laid down in the middle of the wine aisle because he thought it would be funny to block the cart. Good thing I shop on price instead of tasting notes. We'd have been there a long time!

After a walk home in the rain from church on Sunday morning, I got to baking. The text book would tell me to bake the cake well in advance of decorating time, but this momma was working on Halloween costumes the night before, so something had to give. Here's a quick run down of how I made the cake. It wasn't too difficult, and had I not been trying to wrangling two kids, it wouldn't have taken too long to decorate.

I am so unoriginal, I once again used this cake and icing recipe. I baked three cupcakes and one cake in a Bundt pan. After making the icing, I pulled about one cup out and mixed green food coloring into the red. Then I tinted the remaining one cup red. I was going for the Very Hungry Caterpillar look.
After letting the cakes cool for about an hour, I leveled the bottom off the Bundt cake, reserving the cut off portion for later use. Then, I cut that cake in half to form two semi-circles. I set one of the halves aside. I took the other half and cut that in half once again. The semi-circle forms the back, then place the other two pieces in the opposite direction to for the neck and tail, both curling upward. The whole cake should be assembled on something flat and much large than the cake. I didn't have a platter large enough, so I turned a cookie sheet upside down and covered it with foil. You could also buy one of those fancy cake boards at a craft store.
Take the cupcakes and break them up. Toss them in a bowl with something sticky. You could use frosting (cake pop style), but I used about two tablespoons of homemade strawberry jam. The consistency was perfect, runny and so, so sticky. Then I used a pastry blender -- a fork would work, too -- and mashed the whole thing up well. Try taking a small pinch and forming a ball. If you can do that, you're ready to move on to the next step. If it's still too crumbly, add more frosting or jam, mash some more until you can form the ball.
Make a large ball out of the cake and jam/frosting mixture. Place that ball on the neck end of the caterpillar and ta-da -- you've got a head!
Next, use the remaining cake that was reserved when you leveled the Bundt to fill in any cracks in your creation.
Then, using small sheets of wax paper, line the underside of the cake. Place the sheets just barely below the cake surface, so that they will pull away easily. These will be removed after frosting, so that you will have a clean surface under the cake.
Frost the body green and then the head red. An offset spatula is the best tool for this, which you can pick up at any store that sells cake decorating supplies. After frosting I gave the body a good dose of colored sprinkles. Remove the wax paper and place the cake in the refrigerator. The icing will set up a bit when cooled.
I used Tootsie rolls to make the eyes, antenna, feet and grass. I (thankfully) had chocolate, lime and vanilla Tootsie rolls handy from the Halloween candy bowl. You can pinch or cut the Tootsie roll and shape them pretty easily with your hands. For the eyes, I just rolled them into a ball and smooshed them with a rolling pin. Super simple. I made all of the shapes and then set them aside.
Take whatever cake bits you have leftover and toss them in the food processor with a few graham crackers. Buzz. This is the dirt you can sprinkle around the caterpillar. If you don't have a food processor, you could just crush up graham crackers by placing them in a zip top bag and taking a rolling pin to them.
Lastly, pop the Tootsie roll decorations onto the cake.
Enjoy!

Birthday cakeS

2011-09-30T09:52:00.000-07:00

Word to the wise mama: When you're picking up those birthday supplies, grab a bottle of Cab or some other soul-warming drinky winky. Because after the kind of 3-year-old celebrating we've been doing around here, you'll need it.

My big boy is 3, and while I believe he grew out of the Terrible Twos, he's making great progress in the Thwarting Threes. As in, anything I attempt to do, he somehow manages to intervene, steal the show, redirect my attention or otherwise drive me insane. Like yesterday when my sister-in-law called at the exact same time I notice a huge bug crawling up my arm. Either of these things alone could redirect one's attention. But at that very moment Jasper notified my that, despite being a mere inches away from the toilet, he'd peed his pants. Then he kicked off his Crocs (my direction, of course) that were mere portable puddles of piss. See what I mean? I can't freak out about a bug. I can't have a conversation with another adult. I'm dodging flying pee, throwing a kid in the tub and mopping the floor with what was once a nice hand towel.

Despite all of this, I can't get enough of this crazy boy. His grand day was filled with excitement that started with chocolate chip pancakes and ended with one huge slice of cake. And after the boys were snoring happily in a sugar-coated dreamland and I had scrubbed frosting from the floor, walls and clothes, the Hubs and I enjoyed a beer. And a little peace and quiet.

I made cake and cupcakes on two separate celebrations. I know, the kid's only 3, and I'm already certifiable. The first was cupcakes baked into ice cream cones. The second was a more traditional cake. They both used the same cake recipe, which you can find here. And the frosting is vanilla cream cheese.

It was easier than I'd guessed to bake the cake right in the cones. Just placed them on a baking sheet, filled with batter about 3/4 of the way full and baked. After one batch of underdone cakes, I discovered it was better not to pack them too tightly together as I did first in a casserole dish, thinking they'd tip over too easily. The second round I used a cookie sheet and just walked them very carefully to the oven. After cooling completely, I frosted them. Then we set up several small bowls of candies and let kids decorate their own. Fun, yummy and so much less messy than regular cake or cupcakes!

To make the J, I placed a piece of wax paper on top of the cake before frosting. With a Sharpie marker, I wrote the letter J on the wax paper in the size that was appropriate for the cake. Then, I placed the wax paper on a cutting board and used a paring knife to cut out a stencil, using the original J I'd made as a guideline for size. You could also trace an actual stencil on the wax paper. Then, after frosting the cake, I placed the wax paper stencil directly on the frosting and filled in with the sprinkles. After carefully removing the wax paper stencil, I then used a small plate to hold just over the cake to start decorating the outer rim and side. Then I filled in the sides using wax paper to help push them into the frosting. Before doing any frosting, always remember to line the cake plate with pieces of wax paper that will easily be removed after frosting. This leaves you with a clean plate without gobs of frosting all over!

Plum overloaded

2011-08-31T09:00:00.000-07:00

This morning I sliced and de-seeded about 20 plums. The last of our stash of roughly 20 pounds. That's a lot of plums. They arrived at my door by way of my friend Christiane. She was gifted 30 pounds of fruit and a ton of generosity.

The sliced Italian Plums, also called prune plums, were headed for the dehydrator. As Seth put on his bike helmet and gloves, getting ready to head out for work, he said, "It's like you're a squirrel getting ready for winter."

Exactly. That's what preserving food is about. Delicious berries? Not around come December. But sweet jams take their place. And there's the pickling and the flavored vinegars and the sauces and chutneys. So much goodness, it's going to be hard for winter to dampen my craving for summer foods.

So, those plums? Well, after I, too, gave away a generous amount to neighbors, I got to making a Chinese Plum Sauce. It was so delicious and simple. I canned mine, but this recipe would be just fine eating fresh. Get to it now, while the plums are ripe and ready. It's from Sherri Brooks Vinton's book "Put 'em Up!" This book offers some great ideas for preserving, and I love how it's organized by fruit or veggie. It goes well beyond jams and ice box pickles.

We slathered grilled chicken in this sauce and ate it atop brown rice and grilled summer squash. Nothing to complain about there, but the options are endless. It would be a delicious dipping sauce for just about any roasted veggie, spring rolls, chicken, pork, noodles and even sandwiches. And if my picky eater liked it, I'm going to call it kid friendly for the masses.

Chinese Plum Sauce
from "Put 'em Up!" by Sherri Brooks Vinton

2 pounds of plums, pitted and chopped
1/2 cup cider vinegar
1/2 cup brown sugar, lightly packed
1/4 cup soy sauce
3 tablespoons freshly grated ginger
2 garlic cloves
1 star anise

Combine the plums, vinegar, brown sugar, soy sauce, ginger, garlic and star anise in a large nonreactive pot, and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer until thickened, 20 to 25 minutes. Fish out the star anise and discard. Puree the sauce with a stick blender. Refrigerate: Ladle into bowls or jars. Cool, cover and refrigerate for up to 3 weeks. OR Can: Use the boiling-water method. Ladle into clean, hot 4-ounce or half-pint canning jars, leaving 1/4 inch of headspace. Release trapped air. Wipe the rims clean; center lids on the jars and screw on jar bands. Process for 10 minutes. Turn off heat, remove canner lid, and let jars rest in the water for 5 minutes. Remove jars and set aside for 24 hours. Check seals, then store in a cool, dark place for up to 1 year.

Notes: I chopped the plums by lightly pulsing the food processor. Then, I dumped almost all of them out and added the lightly chopped ginger and garlic. Then, I pulsed more to chop those more finely. I used anise seeds and made a sachet from cheesecloth for them and fished that out after cooking.

Giving in and getting lunch

2011-08-24T14:57:00.000-07:00

We are waging a battle of control around my house. It's me versus a nearly 3-year-old. And some days, he is on top of his game. But who gets the upper hand is a constant struggle because the decision-making just doesn't stop when you're a toddler.

Can you throw your rock collection down from the top of the stairs? Of course not. Is it OK to jump on the couch? Depends on Mom's mood. Is picking your little brother up in a headlock OK? Not a chance. Can you pee on my leg? Um, no. Will Mom feed a baby doll breakfast, too? You bet.

See what I mean about the battle? This is his response when I say, "Look at the camera."

That last one is so tough for me to say no to even though it means another three minutes before I get to sit down and eat my own breakfast. I'm always the last at the table anyways, so what's it going to hurt to pull out another plate, cup, spoon, bowl and do NOT forget the napkin?

When I was Jasper's age, I had an imaginary friend named Lucy. And she truly looked like Lucy, the Peanuts character. Yep, she was a cartoon, which is perfectly acceptable given her imaginary state. I know, it's not that unusual for kids to have a vivid imagination, but to what extent the parents play along is the bigger question. My parents went all the way, or out of their way may be the better way to say it. They stopped our car in front of the same stranger's house daily and honked the horn. Then, we'd all sit in the car and wait for Lucy to hop in.

I think I turned out all right, my own neurosis aside. And so will my little guy.

Here's a nice nibble for mom that comes from most of the same ingredients you can make a kiddo lunch from.

This pic isn't that great, but you get the idea. The kiddo spilled a full cup of milk while I was taking this.

Mom's Quick Sammie

Sliced bread, preferably a crusty loaf
Grainy mustard
Honey
Apples, thinly sliced
Cheese, try sharp cheddar, Swiss or Gruyere
Salt and pepper

Preheat the oven to broil. Line a baking sheet with foil for easy clean up. Mix roughly equal parts mustard and honey in a small dish and spread onto one side of the bread. Put the bread on the baking sheet. Place the apple slices on the bread next. Top with cheese. Pop under the broiler until the cheese is slightly browned and bubbly. Remove and cool for a couple of minutes. Top with salt and pepper and serve.

My 3-year-old could do this

2011-08-18T13:35:00.000-07:00

If there is no one in your house who would think this looks like a perfect meal, please, go to Fandango, buy tickets to see a documentary and hit the wine bar before the show. You are clearly too cool for me or for these cut up hot dogs in corn bread.

I'm a big fan of anything that makes my life easier. I've also become a fan of picture books. My oldest is now able to look at the pictures and tell me the story. We read him "The Poky Little Puppy" for bedtime last night. It's a Golden Book I remember from my own childhood. In my mature age, the story just seems drawn out in a way that can only mean one thing: No one edits those books.

The pictures were good enough cues, though, for Jasper to retell it this morning while I made mini corn dog muffins. Here's to hoping I can tell a story, or a recipe, through (mostly) pictures.

I cut eight hot dogs into six equal pieces each to make 48 mini muffins.

I made my usual cornbread batter. Any recipe would work. Mine typically makes a 9x9 pan of bread, and it was enough batter for four dozen mini muffins. If you need a good recipe, try this one.

Fill greased mini muffin tins about 1/3 full. Place a hot dog slice in the center of each. Bake at the temperature your recipe directs, but the time will be far less. Mine took about five or six minutes to bake.

Let them cool in the muffin tins for a few minutes, then gently remove and place on a wire rack for further cooling, or serve immediately. After cooling, I transferred this rack straight to the freezer. Once frozen, I tossed them all in an airtight bag. Reheated for about 5 minutes in a 350 degree oven.

Easing back into the apron

2011-07-15T20:17:00.000-07:00

Whew. It's been a whirlwind around here. Or there. Or wherever. We returned a few days ago from a 10-day adventure to Oklahoma, a trip we managed to plan during a sun-baking heat wave that radiated temperatures no less than 100 degrees daily. We had fun, saw lots of family, spent a fair amount of time in swimming suits and drank a lot of beer.

Then, like all vacations, we returned with a thud. Cranky kids, empty fridge and parents left with a jet-lag hangover that offers no mercy when the alarm goes off on Monday morning (For the Hubs it is an annoying bell on his iPhone, and for me it's the baby's early-morning babble.).

So, here's a bit of what I've been cooking this week. We've still got screaming kids and the swimsuits just aren't the same when the high around here is 75, but it does feel good to be back in our house. Now, if I only had an excuse for a beer with lunch. On vacation it seems like the relaxing thing to do, but for a stay-at-home mommy on a routine Wednesday, it just feels worthy of a call to CPS.

Soba noodles in a puree of coconut milk, sweet potato, caramelized onions, ginger and garlic. Topped with peas, edamame (both frozen) and lightly sauteed cabbage. Topped with veggies last, and the kids had theirs without green things.

I had salmon patties but no buns, so I decided to make it a wrap. They're nestled in the wrap with a slaw made from cabbage, carrots, mangoes, avocados and jalapeno. The slaw dressing started with basic mayo and vinegar, and I added a bit of cayenne for heat, lemon zest and honey to balance the heat.

Feed my family

2011-06-23T13:07:00.000-07:00

There's bread rising on my kitchen counter, and I'm about to start boiling some pasta for tonight's Tuna Casserole dinner. I'm back in the kitchen, and it feels good.

About a month ago I came down with some very strange virus that started with a swollen knee and terribly painful muscles and joints. I couldn't grip a toothbrush much less a chef's knife. I couldn't lift my 7 month old from the crib nor a pot of water to boil, and my hands cringed with pain when I'd wring out a wet washcloth to wipe down the table. The muscle and joint pain was followed by intense fatigue until finally one day I just couldn't make it all the way up the stairs. A trip to the emergency room turned into a three-night stay in the hospital where doctors performed dozens of tests on me, many of which were uncomfortable and some quite painful. When I returned home, I began to get my strength back but still had a few days of shuffling around as I healed from a procedure done to fix my spinal headache.

The entire ordeal was about three weeks. It was very scary not only for me, but for my family, friends, and, I'm sure, my 2-year-old. Thankfully, they found nothing terribly wrong with me. Just an exhausted, dehydrated, sleep-deprived mama who got whacked by a strange bug.

While I was down, though, my friends and family were there to help. My mom came to help with kids, laundry and generally keeping my house running without me. My dad and, later, my sister-in-law came to play with the kiddos. And my friends and neighbors kept us all fed. It's truly an amazing gift to know you are so loved that someone will take time in their day to roast chicken for you, bake cookies or cook a casserole. Odds are that most of us know someone or will know someone who needs a few meals or treats delivered to them. I've written about the power of cooking for others here and here, but in an era where we feel connected to people a gazillion miles away through Facebook and email, I welcome the reminder that nothing replaces family in your home and friendly neighbors at the ready.

Because I'm always looking for good ideas for meals to deliver to friends, I thought I'd offer up a list of a few I received. Offering a meal that can go straight to the freezer is another good idea. And if you don't have the time or desire to cook, a gift certificate to a local pizza joint or another restaurant with take out or delivery service is a way to help without cooking.

Here are a few of the meals and food gifts we received, and all of these are meal ideas I'll keep in my rotation to send to friends!

Sausage and Mushroom Lasagna
Roasted Chicken Thighs and Veggies
Homemade Mac 'n' Cheese
Chicken Curry and Basmati Rice
Minestrone Soup and Beer Bread
Quiche and Green Salad
Jars of Homemade Red Sauce and uncooked Spaghetti noodles
Chicken Enchiladas, prepared and ready for the oven
Spanakopita
Black Bean Hand Pies, unbaked and ready for the oven or freezer
Grilled Chicken and Asparagus Couscous
Tamale Casserole
Borscht, frozen in individual portions for a quick meal later
Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies

If you're looking for a great way to coordinate meal delivery for a friend, the web site Take Them a Meal is very helpful for scheduling.

Tortillas, tortillas

2011-05-18T22:48:00.000-07:00

I've eaten a lot of tortillas in my life. It's hard to drive a mile in Oklahoma and not pass a Tex-Mex restaurant. You know the kind, where they bring you basket after basket of fried tortilla chips, little bowls of salsa and queso, and, at the good places, they bring you those tortilla warmers filled with soft, fluffy flour tortillas.

I know I'm not alone when I say that on more than one occasion I've eaten so many tortillas and queso that I wasn't even hungry by the time by enchiladas arrived. I have now stumbled onto something so fantastic and dangerous -- I've made them at home.

During a recent afternoon conversation with my friend Erin, she told me she'd planned on making tortillas that night for her family's dinner. I told her to let me know how it went and pass along the recipe. She said it was simple enough, so, today, while my boys napped and I chatted on the phone I made tortillas. I was shocked just how easy it was and excited just how delicious it was.

If you don't believe me, pull out the flour and shortening and get to work.

Flour Tortillas

3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 cup shortening
1 cup hot water

Combine the dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl. Cut in shortening with a pastry cutter. Add hot water and mix with a wooden spoon. Dump the dough onto a lightly floured surface and work into a bowl. Let the dough rest about 15 minutes, then, cut the dough into 16 equal pieces (I use a bench scraper to cut the dough in half, and then the halves in half and so on). Roll each piece into a ball. Flour a work surface and use a rolling pin to roll the dough out into a thin round, roughly 6 inches in diameter. Set aside and repeat with remaining dough balls. Use a hot, dry skillet or griddle to cook until the tortilla puffs slightly and lightly browned spots appear underneath. Then flip and cook on the second side. Serve immediately or let cool on a cooling rack, wrap tightly in plastic once cooled and reheat for service later that day.

Simple Roast Chicken

2011-05-11T20:09:00.000-07:00

Taco night is one way to use roast chicken. I love to throw the bite-size pieces into soups, casseroles, stir fry, quesadillas or chicken salad.

My husband is constantly harping on me about cleaning out the fridge. He doesn't understand why I want to keep that quarter of a lemon with all the zest scraped clean, or the pork fat I trimmed off of the pork chops. Or the tortillas he's convinced have been in there since the Reagan administration.

Well, I may be slow, but I like to organize at my own pace. That is why it is a minor miracle I actually did some organizing around here. I'm pretty excited to share that I have started a recipe index for this site. (Update, May 18, 2011) The index seems to have been lost during a recent Blogger problem. I'm working to restore it.

Now, one with a new recipe.

Unless you cook for a houseful of vegetarians, knowing how to roast a whole chicken is right up there with spaghetti, scrambled eggs and pancakes. That is, if you cook at all, you should know how to cook these things.

I suppose the whole bird can be somewhat intimidating, what with the neck, liver and heart stuffed inside, reminding me of the random things my 2-year-old stuffs into the tightest cracks and crevasses. But all you really need to know is this: Pick up a decent meat thermometer, and you can roast the perfect chicken every time. It really is that simple.

Let the chicken rest before carving.

When I roast a chicken, I usually use one breast for that day's dinner. Then, once the chicken is cool enough to handle, remove the remaining meat and tear it into bite-size pieces.

Portion the meat into freezer bags. I like to do about a cup to a cup and a half per bag. That seems to be a good amount for a soup or casserole to serve about four people. The bags thaw quickly under running water or can be placed directly into soups to thaw.

Sure you'll read plenty of recipes about stuffing the bird with herbs, lemons and the like. There's nothing wrong with any of that, but just know, all you really need is some salt, pepper, olive oil or butter. I'm a big fan of doing anything that makes the weeknight dinner easier, and that's where the roast chicken shines. I recently bought a chicken that was a little over seven pounds and yielded meat for six meals for my family. Not bad considering that conventional birds start at about a buck a pound.

I roast a bird (or two), we'll eat it for dinner that night. Then, I'll remove all the remaining meat, tear it into bite-size pieces and freeze, portioned to be the perfect addition to soups, casseroles and noodles.

So, mastering this recipe is a must-do. You can present a handsome whole bird for a big Sunday dinner or parcel out leftovers for several nights. The best part is that the same technique translates to the tiny game hens or a 20-pound holiday turkey.

Simple Roast Chicken

1 whole chicken
Handful of kosher salt
Lots of black pepper
A few tablespoons of olive oil or melted butter

Tools: meat thermometer, kitchen twine, aluminum foil, rimmed baking sheet or baking dish

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Line a large, rimmed baking sheet with aluminum foil and set aside. Cut a string of kitchen twine about 15 inches long and set aside. In a small bowl combine salt and pepper (and any other seasonings you like). In another small bowl pour oil or melted butter.

Place the chicken on the baking sheet, breast-side up. Working from the leg-end of the chicken, remove the neck and giblets from the cavity. Set those aside for another use or discard. Take each wing, one at a time, and extend it, then give it a little twist inward and tuck the lowest portion of each wing behind the chicken. It sounds silly, but it should look like someone basking in the sun with arms folding up behind their head.

Next, working with you hands, rub the oil and seasonings all over the bird, including in the cavity, and, if you like, between the skin and meat. Then, using the twine, tie the legs together. Insert your meat thermometer into the thigh, making sure the tip is well-surrounded by meat and not touch a bone (which heats more quickly than muscle tissue). Then place the chicken in the oven. Roast until the thermometer reads about 155 to 157 degrees (about an hour for that seven-pound bird). Remove from the oven and tent with foil. Let rest about 15 minutes. The temperature will continue to rise and must reach 160 degrees for food safety, when the juices should also be clear.

Budgeting for food

2011-05-06T13:50:00.000-07:00

Being charged with a family's food budget may be one of the biggest jobs of running a household. We can wear dirty socks if we must; a bath will be given, no matter when the last time it was scrubbed, and the floors will indeed still make perfect paths for our feet even when dotted with dust bunnies and toast crumbs.

But without those key items in our pantry, we simply cannot cook. For one month I gave it my best shot to spend as little as possible on groceries. I aimed for a $25-a-week budget and missed the mark on all but the first week. What I discovered was that food isn't cheap, and the whole thing just ticked me off. A stop in the dairy aisle alone could easily account for $25 worth of groceries.

I firmly believe I can help cut costs by changing the way I cook and shop, but I'm not willing to do it at the expense of my family's well-being. And that's where I drew the line. Next time I see someone stacking 20 boxes $2 pizzas in their grocery cart, I'm not going to assume they can't cook. Perhaps they can't, but, what I now know is that even though a homemade pizza is more cost effective than the traditional carry-out variety, it isn't cheap to stock a pantry with flour, yeast, cheeses, sauce, meats and veggies.

My revised goal, and one I hope can be more long-term is to spend $75 or less a week. Our family only eats a meal from a restaurant once a week, if at all, and we eat very few prepackaged, processed foods. I think this is doable and still quite frugal when I consider that even if my family ate some of the cheapest fast food for nearly every meal, we'd likely spend more than that in a week.

If you're interested in learning more about building a pantry for this type of cooking, here are a few tips. And I'd love to hear some of yours!

If you have a minimally-stocked pantry, try to pick up one or two items a week to add to it. For example, buy a 10-pound bag of flour one week and a few pounds of pasta. You likely won't burn through all of those items in one week, so you will gradually build your stock without spending $100 alone on one trip for pantry basics.
Teach yourself to turn to your pantry first instead of cookbooks. It's so frustrating to pick out a recipe only to learn that you are fresh out of the main ingredient. Open the pantry and pick an item to start with. Lots of eggs? Make a scramble, a quiche, egg salad. Pasta a plenty? Toss it into a tomato-based soup, make it a casserole, serve it up with red sauce, toss with mayo and tuna for a quick salad, make a pasta bar for a family full of picky eaters.
Be realistic when you shop. You probably have less time than you think to prepare meals, so take shortcuts when you can. If the pre-sliced mushrooms mean the difference of getting dinner on the table without a meltdown or not, and your budget can handle the increased cost, do it. There's no medal of honor out there for slicing all of your own veggies.
At the same time, be smart, though. If you buy whole carrots instead of the baby carrots, you could easily shred them, cut them into sticks, slice them for stir-fries, etc. Take your shortcuts elsewhere such as skip the step of peeling carrots and just give them a rinse.
Unlike Rachel Ray, my food doesn't come home from the grocery store prepped. But I do find that taking a few minutes to prep things at home when I'm not pressed against the clock for a meal, saves me time later. I shred an entire 2-pound block of cheese and store in an airtight container. I rinse and dry salad greens and store them in an airtight container lined with paper towels. I portion out raw meats and freeze individually, so I'm not forced to use an entire package of pork chops at once.
If you really get the hang of this prep business and do much baking, you can easily make up your own mixes of dry ingredients for items such as muffins, quick breads, pancakes, etc. This can save some time and make the task of baking less daunting. I always do this if I have overnight guests or early-morning entertaining.

Remember, you are that kind of friend

2011-04-29T03:55:00.000-07:00

I'm not that great at a lot of things. I don't know when to stop talking. I have ideas of grandeur and the motivation of a snail. I collect a thousand recipes and never organize them.

One thing I am good at is spending time in the kitchen. Read closely, I didn't say I was a good cook. I just cook a lot. I feel good with my apron on, singing along to some terrible country station on the radio and kids begging me to take a break from the stove.

Someone's having a baby; I cook. A neighbor is getting married; I cook. My friend is sick; I cook.

On Tuesday we had our friends Ryan, Dina and their boys over for a pizza night. We've hung out and played with them a thousand times before, but last night was special. It was the first time Dina had been to our house since a ski accident in January left her with a brain injury. Before that, the last time she was here, we sat in my basement and drank wine and watched a TV show just before Christmas.

After her accident, a steady train of dinners started arriving at her home. It's one thing nearly everyone feels they can do to help out. Drop off a casserole, a rotisserie chicken or, as some of her out-of-town friends did, have a pizza delivered. Since returning home, Dina has said she was overwhelmed with the amount of support her friends offered her and her family while she recovered.

At times since, she has been left searching for the person she was before that January day. She said a few weeks back that she hoped she was the kind of person who would cook for friends in need. I assured her she was. Last night, she said the last memory she had of being at my house was back in November when she came by to drop off a lasagna. I had a two-week-old baby, and even though she probably didn't have any more free time than usual, she had baked a lasagna for my family to enjoy during those rocky, sleepless first weeks of a newborn in the house.

She was that type of friend, and I am so blessed that she still is that kind of friend. The kind of friend that, despite the fact that simple tasks such as writing have become the culmination of months of therapy, she is sending out hand-written birthday cards.

I hope that you have a friend or two like Dina. If you do, you're blessed. And don't forget to tell them just that. And take them a plate of warm cookies. Or a dinner, or some homemade jam. Anything, really, whether you're a good cook or not. Food nourishes memories in a simple and solid way that sometimes even our minds can't quite replicate.

Snickerdoodle Cookies Saveur, Jan. 21, 2010

3 cups flour

2 tsp. cream of tartar

1 tsp. baking soda

1⁄4 tsp. kosher salt

1 3⁄4 cups sugar

16 tbsp. unsalted butter, at room temperature

5 tsp. ground cinnamon

1 1⁄2 tsp. vanilla extract

2 eggs

1. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, cream of tartar, baking soda, and salt; set aside. Using a handheld mixer on medium speed, beat 1 1⁄2 cups sugar and the butter together in a medium bowl until pale and fluffy, 2 minutes. Add 2 tsp. cinnamon and the vanilla; beat for 1 minute more. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add reserved dry ingredients; mix on low speed until just combined. Refrigerate dough for 30 minutes.

2. Heat oven to 375°. Combine remaining sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl. Remove dough from refrigerator and, using a 1-tbsp. measure, spoon out 48 portions, rolling each portion into a 1" ball as you go. Roll each ball in cinnamon–sugar mixture to coat. Arrange dough balls 2" apart on 2 parchment paper–lined baking sheets. Bake until golden brown, about 10 minutes. Transfer to a rack and let cool.

MAKES 48 COOKIES

Dinner in 10

2011-04-27T13:54:00.001-07:00

I made a ton of humus over the weekend, and come Monday, I was staring at the fridge thinking I had too many leftovers not to use them in my dinner plans. What to do with the humus, what to do. I tried mixing it with some lentils for some kind of a salad. It was no good. Or maybe I'd just had my fill of humus and nothing with garbanzos would have tasted good.

Whatever, it didn't matter. It was 6:05 pm, and I did not have dinner on the table. Or the stovetop. Or the oven. That's when I had to rally, a term that Seth finds hilarious to use in the context of the kitchen, but the man has never had to cook dinner for the family, so he may not understand quite how fitting it really is.

I had leftover tortillas and grated cheese, so it was quesadillas for the kiddo. But what to do for the grown-ups who expect just a little more from their meal? I turned to another leftover, hard boiled dyed eggs from Easter. In about 10 minutes I'd put together a salad that Seth and I could call a meal.

Greens, grated carrots, corn, avocado, roasted red peppers tossed in Ranch Dressing, topped with a hard-boiled egg and quesadilla wedges

After I posted this picture of it on my Facebook page, I was surprised by reader reaction. So, for those who liked it, here's a couple of tips from that meal.

I buy whole heads of lettuce or bunches of greens. Bring them home, core them and drop the leaves in a large bowl filled with cold water. A little swish around and I toss the leaves into a strainer to drain (don't pour the water back over them, as all the sand and grit falls to the bottom). Then, if I had a salad spinner, that's where I'd send them next, but I don't. So I either fan them out in a single layer on kitchen towels and let them air dry, or I toss them into a pillow case, go to my backyard and swing the holy heck out of them* (think salad spinner before the days of the salad spinner). Then, I pack the clean, dry leaves into an airtight container with some paper towels to absorb any excess moisture. They keep for about a week, and are ready for a quick salad when you are.
I buy whole carrots by the 5-pound bag. A whole carrot turns into a shredded carrot in about 15 seconds on the box grater.
Frozen corn, defrosted in the microwave is a perfect addition to a salad right alongside some roasted red pepper from the jar, chopped. I would have added some whole beans to the salad if I had them.
Ranch dressing doesn't have to come in the bottle. If you've got mayo, milk, S&P and some dried dill, you can have Ranch in about two minutes. Drop a spoonful of mayo into a bowl. Add a dash of milk and whisk. Add more milk to thin, mayo to thicken. Once you get the right consistency, add salt and pepper to taste and a pinch or two or dried dill. You can use buttermilk instead of regular milk if you like. This keeps in an airtight container for several days in the fridge, and it actually tastes better the next day.
Lastly, instead of croutons or crackers with this salad, I used my last two tortillas to make one quesadilla. Then I split the six triangles between the two salads.

* It's best to introduce yourself to the neighbors before trying this technique. Otherwise, they may get the impression you're a little off if you're flinging around a pillowcase. My neighbor laughed when she first saw me doing it. She hollered over the fence, "If you want to throw the thing, you've got to let go."

Budget Blues

2011-04-20T21:01:00.000-07:00

I have this habit of coming up with an idea, running around telling everyone about it and then, a week or so later, thinking I'm the biggest idiot for ever thinking that would work.

You'd think that since I'm aware of this trait of mine, I wouldn't be so pissed off at myself about now for committing to the free world on this blog that I would spend only $25 a week on groceries. For a month.

It's ridiculous. And if I wasn't so stubborn, I'd just throw in the kitchen towel now. But I said I was going to do it (or try my damnedest), so I'll do it. That's why I'm so annoyed to tell you that I spent close to $40 last week. And, despite my efforts, I feel that I really saved nothing by driving to a separate store to pick up 2 pounds on mild cheddar for $3.99. Yes, it was indeed cheaper than usual, but the extra trip seemed outrageous if I consider the kicking and screaming meltdown we had in the parking lot over which side of the car my 2-year-old was going to climb into. I wouldn't dare bribe him with that precious cheese, either.

Here's what I really want: Parmesan, avocado, mushrooms, buttermilk, sour cream, three kinds of pasta instead of one, pineapple, beets, sliced deli meats and cheeses, delicious coffee and nuts.

I'm learning a lot about what my family will tolerate and what they won't. Jasper has been asking for avocado, the one veggie he's loved since his baby food days. And I groan at Seth that he's now taken to eating peanut butter on toast in the mornings. And when I pulled the last few raisins out and placed them on the counter for Jasper to snack on, I got frustrated when, after cleaning up dinner, I found them, uneaten, but probably handled for hours. To the trash they went. What a waste, I thought.

This is not the first draft of this post. The other versions were so much sweeter. Talking about how I'm learning a lot about being frugal. But then I deleted that BS. I'm frustrated, ticked off. I'm ready for May to roll around, so I can go back to my usual habits, which, by the way, weren't outrageous to begin with.

I wouldn't want to suggest that I would turn to food in such an emotional moment (I refuse to reveal exactly how many M&Ms I've eaten while writing this). But, should you need something to comfort you when you're feeling dumpy, this isn't a bad way. These biscuits are delicious. And lucky for me, they're cheap.

Biscuits
Adapted from Better Homes and Gardens New Cookbook

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
2 teaspoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup butter, cold
2/3 cup milk

In the work bowl of a food processor, combine all of the dry ingredients. Cut the butter into 1/2-inch cubes and dump into the work bowl. Pulse about 10 times or until the butter is well incorporated with no pieces larger than a pea. Be careful not to over-process. If you don't have a food processor, combine the ingredients in a bowl and cut the butter in with a pastry cutter or fork.

Next, add the milk all at once. Using a wooden spoon or spatula, fold the dough just until it comes together. Dump dough onto a floured work surface and gently work into a ball. Working quickly, roll out dough until it is about 1/2 inch. Use a sharp biscuit cutter to cut circles or work with a knife to cut squares. If using a biscuit cutter, just push it straight down and pull up. Do not twist, this will make the biscuits to rise unevenly.

Then, place the biscuits on a greased baking sheet. Brush the tops with melted butter and place the entire tray in the freezer for at least 10 minutes. At this point, you could continue to freeze and transfer to a plastic bag once they are completely frozen, or you could bake at 450 degrees for about 10 to 12 minutes or until the tops are golden.

To bake frozen biscuits, remove however many you want, place on a baking sheet and bake at 450 degrees for about 14 minutes. Do not thaw before baking.

Variation: Add 1 additional tablespoon of sugar and the zest of an orange or lemon to the dough. After biscuits are shaped, use your thumb to create a well in the center of each. Fill well with jam. Proceed with recipe as directed for freezing and baking. While biscuits are baking, juice the orange or lemon and combine with enough powdered sugar to create a think glaze. Once biscuits are done, use a pastry brush to brush glaze on warm biscuits.

Find me on Facebook

2011-04-19T14:02:00.000-07:00

It's been nearly five years since I started this blog. It's start came about in part because of an ending. An ending to my career as a newspaper reporter, that is. Since then, my life, and my kitchen, have changed. I've gained experience in commercial kitchens. I've learned a lot about recipe development and writing, and I'm cooking daily for my toughest critic ever -- a 2-year-old, and his baby brother will soon follow him to the table.

So, it's about time that I got around to having my own Facebook page. It's been a fun new adventure. I don't always have time to blog, but it seems more manageable to post a quick status update and photos. It's also a more appropriate way to pass along little cooking tidbits, you know those things that don't always need a lengthy description.

I hope you continue to come around here, and also stop by on Facebook. I'm also working on a few new projects for the blog that will help make it easier on you to find past recipes, which is exciting, too.

And please, drop me a line. The thing that gets me energized the most is hearing back from readers and fans. Some of you live a few doors down and some of you are in other countries. Wherever you are, I am so excited to share my love of food, cooking and, best of all, eating with you!

Our happy hour

2011-04-14T08:14:00.000-07:00

If you've spent any time around here, you know that I've been a bit frugal lately. I'm trying to limit my weekly grocery bills for the month of April to $25 a week, which I blew last week by $10.

The first week was stressful. It seemed like every day I was reaching for something from the pantry that I just didn't have. This week, however, has been a bit more sane. That is to say we've eaten well. I'll reserve the judgment on our sanity for those who care to visit.

These Pork Fingers were a dish I came up with when I found myself with pork chops in the freezer when I was craving chicken fingers. So, off I went on a chicken finger crusade with the Other White Meat. There are plenty of times when I start cooking with a craving and the wrong ingredients that simply turn into sub-par dinnertime disasters. This, however, was (thankfully) not one of those times. It's become part of our steady rotation.

I love this meal. It's kid food that feels dolled up just enough to take to a happy hour menu. But since we won't be ordering $2 pints and sliders any time too soon, this is a hearty consolation.

Pork Fingers

2 thick-cut pork chops
2 cups buttermilk
2 cups bread crumbs (see note)
1 cup all purpose flour
3+ tablespoons butter, melted
Salt and pepper

If the pork chops are more than an inch and a half thick, cut them in half, crosswise, so that you end up with two mirror-image portions from each chop. Lay out plastic wrap on a baking sheet and place all four chops on the wrap and cover with another sheet of wrap. Using a rolling pin or some other non-breakable, heavy object, pound the heck out of your meat, the goal being to increase your surface area by at least half or so.

Next, cut each chop into strips, roughly three-quarters of an inch wide. Toss the strips along with the buttermilk in an airtight container and refrigerate for a couple of hours.

When you're ready to cook, preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Remove the pork chops from the buttermilk and place in a strainer; reserve the buttermilk and place in a medium bowl. Set aside. Season the flour with salt and pepper in a medium bowl. Set aside. Put the bread crumbs in another medium bowl. Set aside. Line a baking sheet with foil (for easy clean up) and place a cooling rack on top of the baking sheet. Set aside. Line up, in this order, the strainer full of pork, the bowl of flour, the reserved buttermilk, the bread crumbs and the baking sheet.

Working in batches, lightly coat the pork strips in flour and then place them in the buttermilk. Next, dredge the in the bread crumbs and then place them on the wire cooling rack. Repeat until all strips are positioned on the rack. Drizzle melted butter over the strips and bake for 7 to 10 minutes or until meat is done throughout and breading is golden.

Note: If you've got a food processor, making your own bread crumbs is simple, and the taste is so much better than the store-bought stuff. Here's how: Save your bread heels and leftover stale slices and let them hand out on the counter, uncovered overnight (or pop them in a low oven or toaster to dry them out quickly). Then, pulse in the food processor until crumbs form. I keep a zip-top bag full of bread crumbs in my freezer for use anytime.

And the budget is blown

2011-04-08T14:19:00.000-07:00

Here I am, a bit sheepish, to tell you that today I broke my own rule. I knew I'd gone over my $25 budget, but I thought it was by a couple of dollars. I was writing down prices, and keeping an average total in my head. While soothing a baby in a front carrier and entertaining a 2-year-old (who also needed one trip to the bathroom). Clearly, one of my next goals should be a remedial math course.

The grand total was $35.28. I bought 24 items. The most expensive award is split between a 32-ounce tub of yogurt and a 28-ounce jar of peanut butter. Both rang in at $2.88. My impulse buy was a bag of English muffins because we used the last of our bread for toast this morning, and it was going to be a PB&J kind of day.

I bought mostly produce and bulk items. Fresh fruits, veggies, dried beans, rice, flour, yeast. The big ticket items were cheese, yogurt, milk, peanut butter and granola bars.

There are a few staples that I don't buy at the store, which should be noted. I make most the bread we eat, and we have backyard chickens, so I don't buy eggs.

I'm still aiming for $25 a week or as close to that as possible. No matter what, I'm learning some valuable lessons that go way beyond the scope of my kitchen.

If you truly had only $25 in your pocket to spend on a week's worth of family groceries, you would easily spend 1/5 of your budget on a block of cheese or two gallons of milk. Although my family doesn't need it, it gives me a new perspective on why programs such as WIC are crucial to feeding our families.
The way Americans have been trained to shop is just to accept that things like flour and sugar come in 5-pound bags. Breakfast cereals, just about anything from the snack aisle and frozen foods are where portions are chosen for us by the manufacturers. And since their goal is to make money, they find creative ways to make you feel good about your purchase. Just being aware of this goes a long way.
If you have access to a store with bulk items, shop there. I bought 47 cents worth of bread flour and 70 cents worth of rolled oats.
Buying such small amounts really makes me question the validity of bargains from warehouse stores. The pricing may be slightly cheaper, and I've been buying several things is large quantities. But buying the large portions didn't keep me from my weekly journey to the grocery store. And every time I go in, I always buy a few things I didn't plan on.

Pantry pickin'

2011-04-07T14:23:00.000-07:00

We're one week into my Pantry Challenge.

So far, we've spent about $23. Things have been a little more challenging than usual, but given that we're potty training one kiddo and dealing with a baby around here, there's hardly a day that doesn't feel like a challenge.

The numbers:
$5.50 at the Farmer's Market last weekend on apples and pears. I was a bit frustrated to see three softball-sized apples. Commence a discussion with The Hubs: "Thank you for getting fruit. Next time when you're paying a high price-per-pound, look for smaller fruits to help make them last longer."

$18.53 at Freddy's on odds and ends. Picked up a few more apples, bananas, broccoli, lemons, peanut butter, tuna, milk and some bulk flour. Major tip from that trip: I went sans-kids and used a hand basket instead of a huge cart. When my basket was full, I'd hit my limit, and it was a handy reminder not to make any more impulse buys (the bulk flour wasn't a must have, but it was a good price, so I went for it).

Total of $24.03.

The food:
We've had oatmeal, eggs, biscuits and lemon ginger rolls for breakfasts. Lunches have been pastas, leftovers or sammies. For dinner we've had grilled pork chops, an Asian chicken dish, pasta, split pea soup and a neighborhood potluck.

Whatever you do, make this

2011-04-04T21:45:00.000-07:00

A couple of weeks ago I stood in my quiet kitchen while the boys napped talking on the phone with my friend Kim. It was one of those conversations that would have left the husbands wondering was wrong with us. Our conversations range from her No. 1 reason to not push potty training on her youngest son (Porta Potties at big brothers' baseball practices) to me describing the way I split and freeze the Costco pork chops.

But we also talked through a good way to braise some beef for pasties. A pasty is basically the old, old school version of a Hot Pocket, only way better. The meat-filled pastries were sent in the lunchboxes of mine workers from Wisconsin to Wyoming, and it just so happens, I've got friends from all of those states who have introduced this regional dish to me.

A few days later I got to try Kim's beef pasty and was blown away by how delicious it was. I'd suggested she use some red wine or beef stock to braise, but this woman doesn't come from wine country. She's a beer gal to the heart, so she popped open a bottle of dark beer.

Once I heard that, I knew I had to make one soon, and just because I didn't want the work of the small, hand pies, I decided I'd make one large one. No one in my house was disappointed, and even though the calendar says we're into spring, we've still got some cold weather lingering around here. That's enough of an excuse to keep this recipe around for a little while longer before I store it up for the fall.

Beer Braised Beef Pot Pie
makes one 9-inch pie, serves 5 to 6 adults
1 pound beef, trimmed into 1-inch cubes, patted dry (choose stew meat or some other cut intended for slow cooking)
12 ounce dark beer
3 medium potatoes, peeled and cubed
2 large carrots, sliced
1 medium union, diced
1/2 cup frozen corn
1/2 cup frozen peas
olive or vegetable oil
About 3/4 cup flour
salt and pepper
pastry crust (click here for a recipe)
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Toss the beef and flour in a bowl just enough to lightly coat. Using a large heavy-bottomed pot (preferably one that you can transfer directly to the oven), heat a couple of tablespoons oil on medium-high heat. Once the oil is hot, add the beef. Add a generous pinch of salt and dose of pepper. Let beef brown and begin to develop a slight crust on all sides by stirring only occasionally. Do not constantly move the meat about with a spoon, this won't allow the meat to caramelize. Once the meat is browned, turn heat to low and add beer. Using a wooden spoon, scrape the bottom of the pot to remove the browned bits. Add the carrots, potatoes and onions. Stir to combine.

Place a tight fitting lid over the pot or wrap tightly with aluminum foil. Put the pot in the pre-heated oven for one hour. Check meat and vegetables for tenderness and cook longer, if needed. If the meat seems tough, cook it longer, as that will break down the connective tissues and make it tender. Remove from oven once meat and veggies are fork tender. Add peas and corn. Pour the mixture onto a large sheet tray or glass baking dish and refrigerate, uncovered until just cooled (this first step of cooking could be done a day ahead and refrigerated, covered, overnight).

Pour the cooled mixture into a prepared, unbaked pie crust and top with a second crust. Bake at 425 degree for about 30 minutes, or until crust is nicely browned and pie is hot throughout. You may need to cover the edges of the crust with a pie protector or aluminum foil to keep them from burning. Let set 15 minutes before slicing for service.

Can I make it on $25 a week?

2011-04-01T13:51:00.000-07:00

I've been feeling like a slave to the grocery store lately. You know, where I can't think of what exactly I need to buy, but it's Friday, and I always go on Friday, so I rush to change diapers, pack snacks and load kids in the car.

So today we're starting something new around here. For the month of April, I'm going to be more resourceful with my pantry. My goal is to spend no more than $25 a week on the essentials. Dairy, fresh produce, some meats and coffee. I do, believe it or not, still have my sanity, but given the baby's nighttime feeding demands and my 2-year-old taking the "Up 'n' at 'em" phrase literally with 5:45 am wakings, coffee is considered essential around here.

Here are a few of the ground rules I've given myself. And one more thing to note, you can now find The Dinner Hour on Facebook. This blog will still be the place to come for stories and recipes, but on Facebook you can find out more about what I'm cooking that day, links to food news and other fun kitchen tidbits.

Back to those ground rules:

The purpose of my one-month challenge is to be more resourceful with what I've already got in my pantry.
I love saving money. No doubt about it. But this challenge is not about finding the cheapest thing possible. I will absolutely shop sales and use a coupon, but I will not spend my Sundays clipping coupons.
I last made a trip to the grocery store about a week ago. I spent about $80, our usual weekly bill. I did not do additional stocking up to prepare for this.
I shop at regular grocery stores, no Whole Foods, New Seasons, $10-a-pound-cheddar-cheese stores.
My pantry is well stocked. I've got pastas, rices, dried beans, at least eight types of flour and a few pork chops and cooked shredded chicken in the freezer.
I don't typically buy many processed foods, and that will continue.
I serve three meals a day and snacks to my family of two adults, one kiddo and one baby has just started to spit oatmeal all over the kitchen.
We treat ourselves to a restaurant meal about once a week.
I'm not perfect, and I can't vow that I won't break my own rules. If I do, I'll tell you.

If you've got a great meal idea, shopping tips, similar strategies, let me know. I already admitted I'm not perfect. I might as well also tell you I don't know it all.

Pasta and pizza, it's like a broken record

2011-03-28T20:40:00.000-07:00

It seems I can't get away from noodles lately.

We had these sesame noodles for dinner tonight, and The Boy was in love. Peanut butter + pasta equals a happy boy.

And on St. Patrick's Day I fed a crowd of little boys some Irish Cheddar Mac 'n' Cheese. Really, it was a sharp white cheddar and orrechiette. It was so good that the moms on duty, my friend Kim and I, ate seconds and then shoveled one last bite over the sink while cleaning up.

How to: Start with a basic white sauce. Melt 3 tbsp butter in a medium sauce pan. Add three tablespoons of flour while whisking and cook a few minutes until it smells nutty. Add 2 1/2 cups of warm milk and increase heat to medium-high. Stirring often, watch for the mixture to bubble, but do not let it boil. Turn heat off and add about two cups of grated cheese. Stir until melted. Add salt and pepper to taste. Toss with cooked pasta and either serve immediately or for the baked variety, pour mixture and pasta into casserole, top with cheese and bake until brown and bubbly.

And if there was one thing I cooked as much as pasta, it may be pizza. This dish, well, it's just a combination of the two. On a recent weeknight I found myself staring at a bowl of leftover spaghetti noodles and wondering what I could do with them. I found this recipe for Pizza di Spaghetti and went with it. I just used plain, cooked spaghetti and not one covered with her tomato and olive sauce. It worked out just fine, and I went ahead and topped mine like a regular pizza. The Boy loved it. I thought a grown-up version topped with a warm salty mixture of sauteed mushrooms, pine nuts and maybe some goat cheese would be yummy.

I should also mention that I did this in two stages, cooking the spaghetti "crust" first, cooling, and refrigerating until dinner time. Then, I fired up the oven, topped it like a pizza and baked. I think the crust probably lost a little crispness, but overall, it worked out just fine and prepping dinner early keeps me a little more sane.

Noodle, noodle, every meal

2011-03-23T13:39:00.000-07:00

I'm a little embarrassed to admit just how much pasta we eat around here. If I were Italian, I suppose I could blame it on my heritage, but nope, just a mama who grew up in Middle America charged with feeding a toddler three meals a day.

We switch it up, and instead of feeling guilty about all of the semolina flour headed down the gullet, I pat myself on the back that my kid will eat anything from orecchiette to orzo. Well, almost anything.

I've made homemade noodles for most of my adult life and before that I watched my mom make them for holidays, special dinners or when I was sick. My mother learned to make them by watching her grandmother, a rural Oklahoma farm girl named Lucille who went by the name "Peach."

In my family, it's tradition to make the egg noodles short, wide and fat. They're cooked in a creamy chicken soup we always called Chicken and Noodles. While I do still make the original dish from time to time, I enjoy making them longer and thinner and adding them to my Chicken Noodle Soup.

Anytime I dust the counter with flour, The Boy drags his kitchen stool over, shouting, "Let me bake with you!" And while he always winds up covered in flour helping me make the noodles, it wasn't until just recently that he had a bite of one. Then he wanted more. And the leftovers the next day. And the uncooked ones in the freezer. I don't blame him, I'm kind of addicted, too.

Don't pass this recipe by because making homemade pasta sounds too difficult. It's not. And I don't have a pasta machine or any special tools. A pizza cutter makes things go quickly, but even a paring knife will do the trick. The batch makes quite a few noodles, so I use half of it for that night's chicken soup and then I freeze the rest for later.

Grandma Peach's Homemade Noodles

3 eggs, room temperature
1/4 cup milk
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 t baking soda
2 to 3 cups flour, plus more for dusting

Combine the salt, soda and 2 cups of flour in a medium bowl. In a small bowl, combine the milk and eggs, beating eggs slightly. Then add the wet ingredients to the dry and mix with a wooden spoon, adding enough of the remaining cup of flour to form a shaggy dough forms. Dump the dough onto a lightly-floured surface and knead just enough to make a ball. Pat down, add more flour to the surface and begin to roll, using a rolling pin. If the dough seems to tough, let it rest for about five minutes and return. Roll dough until it is slightly thinner than a chopstick (so a little thinner than pie dough), making sure that the surface is even. Then, dust the top of the dough with flour, and using a pizza cutter or small knife, cut the noodles to the size and shape you'd like. Next, transfer the cut noodles to a cookie sheet, laying them out in a single layer so they do not touch. (See note.) Place the cookie sheet in the refrigerator, uncovered, for at least two hours. If you want to freeze the batch, do the same process, but place in the freezer until completely frozen then transfer to an airtight bag.

To cook, add noodles, either directly from the refrigerator or freezer to a near-boiling pot of chicken stock or soup. When the noodles float to the surface, they are done, about two to three minutes. Remove from heat and either serve immediately or cool for later. These noodles are tasty when first cooked, but they benefit from a day in the broth as well.

NOTE: If you don't add enough flour, the noodles will be very sticky to work with. To help alleviate some trouble, you can place the dough on a well-floured cookie sheet and cut them directly on the cookie sheet, so there is no need to transfer them.

Eat pizza, not crow

2011-03-13T21:21:00.000-07:00

For this post, I will surely owe a few friends a slice of pizza.

A group of my girlfriends have had a long-running discussion about whether or not to par-bake a pizza crust. To be honest, I'm probably the only one still interested in the conversation, but others' lack of interest has never stopped me from talking before.

I used to think that par-baking, short for partial baking, a homemade pizza dough was for amateurs. And then I had to make 20 pizzas for one event, and in the name of practicality, I had to find a quicker, easier way to bake 20 pizzas in an hour -- no big deal for the pizzeria down the street but a major feat for a home kitchen. It turns out that par-baking was right, and I was wrong.

And somewhat sheepishly, I've gone on par-baking pizzas and not saying a word. When I've served pizza for a birthday party, par-baked. When I made heart-shaped Valentine's Day pizzas for a kitchen full of boys, par-baked. And when I made a pizza to deliver to some friends, par-baked.

It's fairly simple. Prepare the dough as the recipe states and then form your pizza crust and bake it on a pizza stone just until the crust is firm enough to hold together and be easily lifted off the stone. Then remove it from the oven, cool on a cooling rack and top later. But just recently I took it one step further, and I made two individual pizza crusts, par-baked and then froze.

I would call myself a genius except that it's taken me years to figure this out.

With Daylight Saving Time, today was riddled with wonky naps, a constantly crying baby and a mom who couldn't take a 2-year-old drumming his set of pots and pans another beat. And then came the dinner hour, creeping up more quickly than I'd anticipated. "What to cook, what to cook?" I mumbled, foraging the the pantry, fridge and freezer.

The pizza crusts! They thawed within 10 minutes, and after another five they were topped and in the oven. Take that, Rachael Ray.

If you need a good crust recipe, this is my go-to. You can even sub half of the all-purpose flour for whole wheat and still get a good result. Here are a few more tips for the best par-baked pie.

To ensure good browning, use a pastry brush to baste the outer edge of the crust with olive oil just prior to par-baking.
Once a par-baked crust has been removed from the oven, cool completely on a cooling rack before freezing or storing for later use.
If your freezer is as full as mine, you might be best trying to freeze individual-size crusts. Actually, this is best, though, because then you could choose to bake as many, or as few, pizzas as you want.
If freezing, place a sheet of wax paper between stacked crusts to ensure they don't stick together and place in an airtight bag or container to freeze.
To finish a par-baked crust, thaw (if frozen), top with sauce and additional toppings and return to the oven either on a pre-heated stone or directly on the wire oven rack and finish baking until cheese is browned.
Par-baking is a fantastic way to take the edge off of entertaining with pizzas. You'll have time to clean up yourself and your kitchen from a fine dusting of flour, and you won't stress about shaping dough in front of an audience.

Yogurt, plain and simple

2011-03-03T15:12:00.001-08:00

Mommy likes hers with some oats on top.

Much like I have a rule about not buying kitchen tools that have only one use, I hate buying food or stray ingredients that work in only one dish. Come on, that bottle of fish sauce stinks and big, so if you're not going to use it but for the one time, don't buy it. That's how I feel about those small cherry-berry-blasted yogurt cups. What else can you do with them other than eat super-sweet yogurt?

I don't mind berries in my yogurt, although the idea of anything tasting like a Key Lime Pie other than a Key Lime Pie creeps me out ever since I read Fast Food Nation. (I don't have anything against Key Limes, it's those tasty "Key Lime" chemicals that are a turnoff.) That's why I go for the big tub of plain yogurt. Sure, all by it's lonesome, it tastes like, (drumroll) yogurt. But did you know that much like buttermilk, it can add tang to baked goods? And imagining an gyro without the Greek yogurt sauce tzatziki is kind of cruel. And a yogurt smoothie is this sleep-deprived mama's go-to quick breakfast.

An immersion blender makes quick work of a yogurt smoothie with blueberries, banana and spinach, sweetened with honey.

Breakfast for two.

My 2-year-old loves yogurt smoothies, or smoovies as they're known around here. Maybe it's merely the fact that he gets to slurp his meal through a bendy straw, but I don't really care. Usually while he's running around the house playing trucks, I toss in frozen blueberries, banana, a handful of spinach leaves and honey in yogurt and buzz it with my immersion blender. The brilliant purple is cool enough that he never presses me about what else is in the smoothie, and I feel like a decent mom for getting a few veggies in before 8 a.m. (And let's be honest, there won't be many other veggies at all unless we've got sweet potato fries on the dinner menu.)

Here's another smoothie idea that includes avocados and bananas, which couldn't be a more perfect marriage in my book. If that sounds too strange for your tastes, check out this recipe for chocolate chip banana muffins. And yogurt doesn't stop at breakfast. Swap it for sour cream in dips or mayo in dressings. It's blank canvas makes it an excellent baby food, too.

And should you find yourself staring at a tub of plain yogurt and craving a berry-sweetened cup of yogurt, mix a few spoonfuls with some of your favorite jam. You'll be surprised how much it tastes just like the stuff in the store-bought cups. Only better.

Confessions

2011-02-07T14:38:00.000-08:00

When I wrote this post a few weeks ago about getting organized, I had no idea the kind of response I'd get. I fully expected some harassment from my close friends who visit my home regularly. And I knew that only my mother-in-law would truly understand the kind of Type A organizational efforts my husband puts out. But the one that really surprised me came in a bar on campus in Norman, Okla.

I was back visiting family and met up with two friends from college. They, along with a handful of other girls and myself, made up what we called Friday Night Social Club. We'd meet at my college house, a place I rented from my dad along with an absentee roommate. We'd drink, talk, laugh, snack, smoke. We were typical journalism students who thought we knew more than most or at least how to write better than most.

It was my friend Sarah who said that in college I was the wacky one, what with matching plates and silverware. She and our friend Heather commented that even back then, my house was decorated with framed art, matching furniture and wreaths. Then, Heather asked a question that was hilarious: She wanted to know if the photo on the blog post was really my pantry or just some stock photo I ripped off the Internet. That's pretty much when it hit me: I'm the nerd.

So here's the confession. I am not always organized. And here's the proof. I showed you the clean, tidy spot of my kitchen in that previous post. Here's the rest:

My bottom-freezer drawer. Packed. Stuffed. No room for Eggo Waffles. I'm seriously rethinking my CostCo membership because I have no room for more frozen things. There's a ripened banana, unbaked biscuits, pie crust, pork chops, frozen peas and that's just what I can see. I have to put Seth's frozen beer mugs on the top. If he has to dig for them, there's no telling what he'll throw out.

This is my coffee, tea, medicine, water bottle, crayon, craft paper, stickers, stamps and cookie cutter cabinet. Don't you have one of those?

And here is my beloved food processor, which always gets shoved into this cabinet. There's just no great way to store all of those pieces. Maybe this is why some people let it get lost in the back of the cabinets. Although a pain in the rear to store, a food processor is the miracle worker of the kitchen.

The last confession of the day is one near and dear to my heart. Back in those college days, I worked at a Chili's where the number one appetizer was, without a doubt, their chips and queso. It came in a tiny, hot, cast-iron skillet, studded with sausage and served alongside a mountain of tortilla chips. Not once, in all my nights working there did anyone ever ask me what queso was. Nor did anyone ever ask if there was a vegetarian version of it. I probably would have had to get my manager if anyone had asked if it were gluten free.

I made it for our Super Bowl party last night and was shocked that it wasn't all eaten. Oh, the Northwest is full of great things, but queso isn't one of them. Some of them didn't even know what it was.

Queso, of course, means cheese in Spanish. But in the middle part of this country, it means a gooey, warm dip made of Velveeta and Rotel brand tomatoes and chilies. It is served with tortilla chips, and is a staple on any Tex-Mex restaurant menu. It is completely unnatural, totally unhealthy and out-of-this-world delicious.

Just because I write about food, does not mean we have gourmet meals around here. Anytime you start to get that impression, you just ask my husband about the time I served him a hot dog wrapped in a tortilla (in my defense I was exhausted and very pregnant). We had Pigs in a Blanket last week. And my mom's Tuna Casserole appears on my table weekly, and I do love an Eggo waffle.

If this whole queso thing is new to you, here's how you make it. If it's not new, don't judge, they'll come around once they try it.

Rotel Queso: Cube a brick of Velveeta and place in a microwave-safe bowl. Add a can of Rotel. Microwave on high, stopping every couple of minutes to stir, until cheese is completely melted. Serve immediately.

Relaxed and rewaxed

2011-01-29T08:33:00.000-08:00

Around the time we bought our house I was flipping through the newspaper and came across a collection of quotes about food. I cut out one from Julia Child and hung it on the fridge. "The dinner hour is a sacred, happy time when everyone should be together and relaxed," it read.

I grew up in a house where my mom cooked and my family sat together at the dinner table, and passed the corn, peas and casseroles around the table. As my husband and I settled into our new home, I decided I wanted to put the quote on the wall of our breakfast nook.

Just like I thought a coat of white paint would make a faux brick backsplash slightly less hideous, I thought putting that quote on the wall would will a lifetime of magical family mealtimes upon us. I was idealistic to say the least. I didn't truly understand what it really meant to be the one in charge of putting dinner on the table for a family. Those were the days when we had the extra money to buy Frenched lamb and a bottle of Pinot Noir, the time to talk leisurely about our future while we cooked and the energy to watch an entire movie afterward.

These days cooking dinner is really the side show. In addition to browning meat, firing up the oven and grating cheese, I am trying to console a baby who just wants to be held and a 2-year-old who wants nothing other than my undivided attention. Some nights, I put the baby in the front carrier, let the toddler pull a stool to the counter and ignore the cheese ground into the bottoms of his socks, the kosher salt ring around his lips and my own common sense to not do things like dice onions while you cannot see your fingers because of the baby on your chest.

Then, when we actually make our way to the table, we begin an entirely new challenge that usually involves threats like, "If you throw the fork, you will not get it back," and "We will clean up all of the red sauce when we're finished, so you do not need napkin number 592 right at this moment."

Recently, my 2-year-old took notice of the quote and started asking us to read it to him. He now has it memorized but nonetheless asks me to read it to him several times at each meal. I say it slowly, letting him say it along with me. And we always share a laugh at the end because he can't quite enunciate the word "relaxed." It comes out as "re-waxed."

That part is comical to me, anyways. Julia didn't have kids. And if you do, the dinner hour is likely not relaxing. It's a difficult, crazy, anxiety-inducing time of day that leaves many well-intentioned moms thinking that McDonald's may not be that bad.

This is why I never let my pantry be without two things: a jar of red sauce and pasta. I make a homemade red sauce that is delicious in everything from lasagna to pizza, but I'm also in touch with reality.

Here's my red sauce recipe. And when you're picking up the ingredients at the grocery store, just go ahead and throw a jar of the store-bought stuff in your cart, too. Surely by Friday you'll be thanking yourself.

Homemade Red Sauce

2, 28-ounce cans of whole tomatoes
1, 6-ounce can of tomato paste
1 medium onion, diced
1/4 cup red wine pinch of red pepper flakes
salt and pepper to taste
olive oil

Special equipment: immersion blender or food processor.

Coat the bottom of a heavy-bottomed stock pot with olive oil and heat to medium. For best results do not use a non-stick pot. Add onions and cook on medium heat until tender and lightly browned. Add wine and continue to cook, letting wine reduce and scraping the bottom of pan, about 4 to 5 minutes or until alcohol smell is gone. Add tomatoes and tomato paste and red pepper flakes. Stir to combine and let simmer for about 30 minutes. Puree the mixture either in the pot with an immersion blender or in batches with a food processor. Season to taste. At this point the sauce could be served immediately, cooled completely and frozen or refrigerated. To use for a pizza, return to heat and allow sauce to reduce and thicken for about another hour on low heat.

Variation: For a meat sauce, begin by browning sausage. Once cooked through, remove sausage and cook onions in sausage drippings. Continue with recipe.

Friends, a family favorite

2011-01-23T19:53:00.000-08:00

When I am with my girlfriends, all of whom are fellow moms, it doesn't take too long for the conversation to turn to food. The talk isn't about hot restaurants, new trends or their latest gluten-free recipe. It's about grocery shopping strategy, how to pinch pennies and what is the latest dish the kids loved.

If you're a mom who cooks, the next meal is never more than a couple of hours away, so it's only natural that we swap tips and ideas. If any of you can better explain this, please send the memo to my husband, who doesn't understand why I go to events called "book club" and "craft night" and come home with recipes and gossip.

One of those recipes that always comes up is my friend Dina's chip casserole. Under all normal circumstances, we are a group of moms who do not consider tortilla chips a main ingredient in any well-rounded meal. But there are exceptions, and this is one.

Dina received this recipe from a friend of hers named Kristin, and on the hand-written recipe card with worn corners and a smudge or two, she wrote a note: "The first reunion at Kristin's house for us. She made this but put it on the hot burner. The glass ruined it. So funny."

I'm guessing the glass dish broke under the direct heat, a phenomenon I first saw myself when I was about 8 and my dad tried to reheat leftover tuna casserole on the stovetop. Funny, indeed.

Take away these two things from this post: First, make this chip casserole. Second, jot down a little story about a recipe when you get it from a friend. Then, you'll have more than a family dinner favorite. You'll have a memory to last a lifetime.

Santa Fe Casserole
otherwise known as Chip Casserole

1 pound lean ground beef
1 package of Lawry's Taco Seasoning
2 cups of chicken broth
1/4 cup flour
1 cup sour cream
1, 7-ounce can of diced green chiles
1, 11-ounce package of tortilla chips
2 cups grated jack and cheddar cheeses
sliced green onions for garnish, if desired

In a medium skillet brown and crumble beef. Drain fat and discard. Remove meat from heat and add taco seasoning. In a small bowl combine broth and flour. Add the broth mixture to meat and heat over medium-high until liquid comes to a slow boil to thicken. Stir in sour cream and chiles. Turn off heat. Spread chips evenly in a 9 x 13 greased glass baking dish. Pour beef mixture over chips. Layer with cheese and top with green onions. Bake uncovered in a 375 degree oven for about 20 minutes or until cheese is melted and slightly browned. Let stand five minutes before serving.

Notes: I left out the chiles and still loved the dish. I added a little avocado and tomato salad on the side. Next time I might use less meat and add beans to the meat mixture.

Organized, for a day at least

2011-01-03T07:26:00.000-08:00

I would not peg myself as a disorganized person. Sure I'm fine with keeping the mail in piles and I don't fold my underwear, but I do like the laundry put away and dishes seldom sit in my sink.

My husband, however, is what I'll call hyper-organized. And I'm being nice. He comes by his OCD tendencies naturally. From his sock drawer to desktop, everything has a place. When my things invade our common spaces such as the closet, the bathroom cabinet or, heaven forbid, the garage, he gets a bit cranky. To his credit, he has left the kitchen alone, letting me organize the way I want. It is considered my territory, and he knows that if he gets too involved, I might expect him to cook. So he stays clear, and I stay happy.

But just the other day as I opened the pantry a thin plastic sack filled with farina cereal fell out of the pantry and whopped me on the head. I looked up at a shelf stuffed with bags of other bulk-bin goodies: dried beans, oatmeal, brown sugar, couscous, quinoa and rice. "It looks like someone with dementia lives here and can't remember we already have oatmeal in the pantry," I said aloud. Seth laughed, his smirk revealing an unsaid I-told-you-so.

I'm not big on New Year's resolutions. I sometimes have trouble finishing somethings I start. Case in point: The scarf I began knitting about four years ago still sits on a shelf, needles the in yarn. Every time Seth comes across it, he threatens to throw it away, while I expel some verbal vomit about how I'll finish it some day.

So, here's my non-resolution goal. As my family tries a bit harder to stick to a budget, I am trying to be a more resourceful cook, making sure I make the best of everything in my pantry. Instead of sharing a recipe right now, I'm going to share a couple of tips for keeping your pantry in order. It's nothing revolutionary, but if you're like me any reminders about how to organize might just come in handy. And just like I say I'm going to finish that scarf, in all honesty, my pantry will not stay organized for the entire year. We're hoping to make it through Friday. Nobody's perfect.

Keep pantry items in see-through containers. I like to use glass canning jars. They are cheaper than Tupperware, are dishwasher safe and will come in handy for a zillion other uses (leftovers, craft supplies, vases, candle holders, etc.). Leftover glass jars from jams, applesauce or red sauce work, too.
Labeling items isn't a bad idea, especially if you don't cook often and may have some dried beans around from a pre-Obama era. Labels should include the name of the item and the date it was purchased.
A major piece of keeping a commercial kitchen in order and on budget is inventory. It makes sense that we'd do that with our home kitchens, too. I'm not suggesting you work up a spread sheet -- unless that's your thing -- but do come up with a way to ensure you're not buying new items when you've already got them in your pantry. A simple check of your pantry before you shop is good, or you could create a place to keep track when you use the last of a certain item.
I used to buy canned beans and tomatoes on every trip to the grocery store. Then, should I have a week when I didn't make a chili, I began to look like I was stocking up for the Apocalypse. Don't do this. Follow that inventory tip from above.
I love a pantry filled with single ingredients such as dried beans, rices, cereals, sugars, canned tuna, tomatoes, dried fruits and nuts. My theory is that building a pantry around those single items gives you so many more choices when it comes to cooking. After all, the Rice-A-Roni will yield you only Rice-A-Roni, but a pantry full of rices could mean risotto, jambalaya, casserole or a stir fry on any given night.
If letting go of a package with cooking instructions gives you a slight panic attack, simply cut out the instructions and tape them to the container or store them right inside with the ingredient. I always forget the water-to-rice ratio and cooking times for different rices, so I keep a chart handy.
And finally, if you know a great way to organize your freezer, let me know. Maybe I'll tackle that in 2012!

A crust to count on

2011-01-01T13:49:00.000-08:00

Every cook needs a good pie crust recipe. Even if you've never made pie before, you at least need one stored somewhere in the kitchen. Eventually, nearly every cook, no matter how skilled, gets a hankering for making a pie.

There's Thanksgiving, the king of all pie holidays. And come July, those fresh peaches will need to go somewhere. And the brunch you want to host would be amazing if you could whip up a quiche.

Done. Here it is. Any pie crust is just a combination of fat and flour plus a little water. But despite being so simple, there are bad crusts out there. You've likely had one. If you're like me, you've even made one (or several). That's because the trick to pie crust isn't in the ingredients but in the technique.

This one comes from The New Best Recipe cookbook from Cook's Illustrated. If you ever wanted to know why your cookies are flat, your brownies not crackled on top or your pie crust is tough, this is the book for you.

Basic Pie Dough from The New Best Recipe cookbook
Enough for 1 double-crust 9-inch pie

2 1/2 cups unbleached all purpose flour, plus more for dusting the work surface
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons sugar
1/2 cup vegetable shortening, chilled
12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/4-inch pieces
6 to 8 tablespoons ice water

1. Process the flour, salt and sugar in a food processor until combined. Add the shortening and process until the mixture has the texture of coarse sand, about 10 seconds. Scatter the butter pieces over the flour mixture; cut the butter into the flour until the mixture is pale yellow and resembles coarse crumbs, with the butter bits no larger than small peas, about ten 1-second pulses. Turn the mixture into a medium bowl.

2. Sprinkle 6 tablespoons of the ice water over the mixture. With a rubber spatula, use a folding motion to mix. Press down on the dough with the broad side of the spatula until the dough sticks together, adding up to 2 tablespoons more ice water if the dough will not come together. Divide the dough into 2 balls and flatten each into a 4-inch disk. Wrap each in plastic and refrigerate at least 1 hour or up to 2 days before rolling.

The perfect gift

2010-12-21T13:42:00.000-08:00

For weeks, we've known the combination of a new baby in our house and a sour economy would keep Christmas gift giving to a minimum for us this year. We had no idea how much we ultimately would want just one thing, though: the health and happiness of our family.

A couple of weeks ago I called my sister to let her know that we wanted to make sure everyone was on board with not having a major giftapalooza for the kids. It was then she told me that their Christmas was going to be about experiences this year. You know, looking at lights, building a gingerbread house and hanging out as a family. I agreed that sounded fantastic. Her family dealt with job loss, and ours keeps seeing our income shrink with furloughs, rising health care costs and our choice for me to stay at home with our boys.

In the past few days my family's collective blood pressure has risen dramatically as we got word that my 3-year-old niece was being checked for lymphoma. And this came just about a week after my sister was called back for a follow-up after something was spotted during a routine mammogram. Thankfully, doctors have assured the family that everyone is well.

While we waited for answers I worried, mostly for my sister who had to put on a brave face to not alarm her daughters. I am just beginning to see that the really tough parts of parenthood don't come when your kid wakes up for the umpteenth time with pee-soaked sheets. The grueling part comes when you have to face our imperfect world and lead your child through it.

I am trying to take this moment to let go of a few minor stresses and remember what I am really grateful for this Christmas. For me, that's knowing what is truly worth worrying about and what is not. Merry Christmas, and I hope your Christmas wish is granted, too.

Here are my low-stress, low-cost and, I hope, fun Christmas gifts:

Homemade Cocoa Mix
(adapted from an Alton Brown recipe)
2 cups of powdered sugar
1 cup of cocoa powder
2 1/2 cups powdered milk
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons corn starch
*Vary by adding a pinch of cayenne, crushed peppermints or mini chocolate chips.

***

Marshmallow Snowman Kit

If you want an afternoon project that may not be as involved as an entire gingerbread house, this is a fun one. Just melt white chocolate and use it like glue to stack different sizes of marshmallows. Or just give them a dunk in the melted white chocolate and then a pile of your favorite sprinkles, dark chocolate chips or candies.

A wee bit neglectful

2010-12-01T13:51:00.001-08:00

I've not had much free time lately, so that's my excuse for neglecting my blog.

We had our high about a month ago when Carter was born, and, we've hit a low in terms of parenting moments. My adorable 2-year-old is acting like, well, a 2 year old. Who just got his mom stolen. It sounds so rational. In reality, however, it makes me very irrational. Like thinking I could keep him from getting every drop of water from the tub onto the bathroom floor. Nope. Or trying to keep him from peeing all over his bed. Not gonna happen. And wanting so badly for him to stop hurling toys out of the car while he kicks and screams about getting buckled in. Uh-uh.

Luckily this week I did find some motivation, even if it had nothing to do with parenting (perhaps it was because it had nothing to do with parenting). Some friends of ours had their own new baby to celebrate, and knowing how miserable the hospital food can be, I packed up a dinner (take-out, folks) and a few slices of some of the best banana bread I've made. And since I'm in no position to be cocky right now, I give all the credit to this recipe, which I followed precisely.

The recipe is from Orangette, this adorable food blog from an Oklahoma-raised, Seattle-living writer. I have a love-hate relationship with this woman I've never met. I feel like because we're both Northwest transplants from Oklahoma that we should have more in common. She, however, has an insanely popular food blog, a published food memoir and a regular column in Bon Appetit. Don't get me wrong, I have a lot to be thankful for, but in my sappy state, I feel like all I've got right now are stretch marks, early onset dementia and an endless pile of laundry. Seriously, which one of us do you envy?

But, all that aside, I do continuously go back to Molly Wizenberg's blog. The stories are usually charming and the recipes she shares are approachable, or at least she makes them seem that way, spinning a fun little story about where the recipe came from -- a dinner party, a childhood friend's mom or her late father.

If Banana Bread with Cinnamon Crumble Topping doesn't sound delicious enough, check out one of her other banana bread recipes like this one or this one.

There are no shortages of excuses for baking this month, so preheat the oven and pull those blackened bananas out of the freezer.

Thank you to my village

2010-11-13T11:07:00.000-08:00

I've never considered myself a great writer, and let me just say that these days I'm doing great to finish a simple train of thought like "Go upstairs, pee, get diapers and burp cloth." So, you can only imagine that actually writing, as in sitting down at the computer and willing my fingers to translate the thoughts swirling in my head is a daunting task.

If you're not a regular around here, you may be wondering if I just had a stroke. Well, not exactly. Two weeks ago today I gave birth to my second little boy. It was a whirlwind experience -- other mommas speak up here and say, "What labor and delivery isn't?" -- that had been building for weeks. I'd been saying I couldn't have this baby until Oct. 30 when my mother flew in from Oklahoma to help out with Jasper. Feeling like labor was indeed starting but not in full swing, I picked my mom up from the airport, took her and Jasper out to dinner, bathed the boy and put him to bed and then decided I better get my butt to the hospital, and quick. Just five hours after my mom arrived, Carter Kenneth was born.

In the days following, I was reminded of all of the unpleasant bits of delivering a baby. There's the sweating, the mental and physical exhaustion and the mad, mad paradox of healing while caring for a tiny human being (even if they weigh 9 pounds and 6 ounces at birth). And, of course, there are many more hiccups that just aren't fit for discussion on a food blog.

But thankfully, I was also reminded of how much my family is loved. Grandmas are flying halfway across the country to do my laundry, unload my dishwasher and give me an extra set of hands while I figure out this new role of motherhood. Then there are the friends and neighbors who are dropping by with lasagnas, enchiladas, hand pies, muffins and casseroles. And this gravy train isn't ending just yet, with more friends scheduled for food drops in the coming weeks.

It may be overused, but the old It-Takes-A-Village saying couldn't be more true. And I am so thankful for this village surrounding my little family. Everything from our friends Dan and Juliana who came to sit with Jasper and drive Seth to the hospital the night I delivered Carter to the offers to take big brother off my hands for a few hours are so dear. We are blessed in more ways than one.

Too often, I think, we keep our distance from friends and neighbors, thinking they need their space when a new baby is born, a relative is sick or any of the other stresses of life press upon us. But in reality, that's probably when they need us most.

So next time you have a friend or neighbor in need, drop off a casserole or a batch of muffins. It's possible to do without being intrusive, and a small effort goes a long way to helping a family. And just in case you need an idea, here's an awesome recipe for a Black Bean Pie that was delivered to me by my friend Kim.

Delivering a casserole won't change the world, but it just might change someone's outlook, even for just a day. And let's be honest, when you've got a new baby to care for, you're not thinking much further out than that anyways.

Black Bean Pie

1 clove garlic minced

2 cans black beans drained and rinsed

28 oz diced tomatoes with most of juice

3 oz tomato paste

1 tsp ground cumin

juice of half a lime

pre-made or homemade pie crust

shredded cheddar or blend cheese to suit taste

*If you want to sneak in another veggie you can add a chopped yellow pepper in the final 5 minutes of the simmer.

*Before I pour in the tomato mix I pour off a little juice if it seems too runny. After it is baked it is best to give it a few minutes to set up before cutting.

Preheat oven to 350. In a sauce pan brown the garlic in olive oil. Add beans, tomatoes, tomato paste, cumin and lime. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, cover and simmer for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. Shape on half of pie crust in a pie pan. Pour bean mixture into bottom of the crust, top with a layer of cheddar, then cover with the other half of the pie crust. Pinch top and bottom of pie crust together;make several slits in the crust with a knife. Bake pie for approximately 35 minutes or until the crust is slightly brown around the edges.

Thank you, Mrs. Faltz

2010-10-26T20:43:00.000-07:00

About a month ago I got tired of looking at the empty bookshelf tucked into the end of my kitchen island. Before Jasper, it was the spot where I kept the part of my cookbook collection I reached for most. My Better Homes and Gardens, the three-ring book that holds a mishmash collection of newspaper clippings and hand-copied recipes. And more than a dozen old cookbooks I've picked up over the past 10 years.

I figured Jasper was old enough to at least not tear the books up. Much to my surprise, the problem we've had with them doesn't have to do with him mishandling them. In fact, it's the opposite. He frequently pulls a book off the shelf -- at perfect eye-level for a 3-foot-tall boy -- and starts flipping through the pages. He talks to himself about the books and seems fond of the ones with pictures.

Today he plucked a small, tattered book from the shelf, and given its frail spine, I replaced it with another book and took "Magic Chef Cooking," copyright 1935, into my own hands. As I set it down on the counter, a loose piece of paper fell out. I picked it up and warmed just a bit at the penciled scrawl. I didn't really care what the recipe was, I just love reading anything that someone wrote by hand, and given the age of the book, my heart pumped just a bit faster thinking of how long that recipe may have been lost in the pages of the book.

The recipe was for Pumpkin Cookies by Mrs. P.E. Faltz and references Hobart, Okla., not surprising since the receipt tucked into the front of the book reminded me I'd picked it up at an antique store in north Oklahoma City on a visit home for Christmas about five years ago.

After reading through the recipe, I knew it was very similar to this one I'd made before. But that didn't matter much to me. With bright orange, red and yellow leaves falling in our neighborhood streets and the first real rain storm of the season pressing down, pumpkin cookies seemed perfect.

I enlisted Jasper's help to dump flour, cinnamon and sugar into the mixing bowl, and he had fun using the crank nut grinder to chop the walnuts. Much like the previous pumpkin cookies I'd made, the texture of these cookies didn't fit what I'd call a traditional cookie. They don't spread, but bake pretty much in the round you drop them onto the cookie sheet. And they are soft, not crispy. They remind me of some type of breakfast pastry, actually, but that didn't stop me from eating a couple of them at 4 in the afternoon.

I'll keep this recipe around. In an era where I make many recipes looking right at my laptop and never see them printed on paper, it's a nice reminder that a handwritten recipe or margin notes are sometimes more valuable than the books they're tucked into.

Mrs. P.E. Faltz's Pumpkin Cookies

1 cup sugar
1 cup pumpkin puree
1/4 cup shortening
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup of dates or raisins, chopped
1/2 cup nuts
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon
2 cups flour

Beat sugar, pumpkin and shortening together . Add egg and continue beating. Add all other ingredients and mix well. Drop by the teaspoonfuls on greased cookie sheet and bake at 375 degrees for 10 to 12 minutes. Ice with powdered sugar icing, flavored with orange juice or maple. Makes about two dozen cookies.

The crazy cake trials and trail

2010-09-27T14:05:00.000-07:00

Nerd alert. Not as in quantum physics and mathletes, but the kind of nerd who kind of became a little obsessed with a certain cake recipe. It started by taking a few simple notes. That led a very pleasant conversation with a culinary historian named Sandy Oliver in Maine. And more research flipping through cookbooks on my own shelves, online and even researching product histories.

See, bona fide nerd.

If you want to just see this stinking cake recipe, click here. Otherwise, indulge me, and keep reading.

This whole thing started with Jasper's birthday. When you turn 2, it only seems right to have your mom make you some cupcakes. And, yes, I probably could have gotten away -- guilt-free, even, perhaps -- with a box mix. After all, I'm eight months pregnant, and despite the fact that I cooked for 80 people a month ago, baking for a half-dozen neighbor kids sounded like a lot of work. But, I decided it would be fun to test a couple of recipes, and I had a few events I needed to bake for anyways, so off I went in search of a simple chocolate cake recipe.

It's not that a chocolate cake recipe is a hard thing to track down. Every comprehensive cookbook I own has at least four or five of them. The real trouble is winnowing down the list and picking one to try. I started by reading a bit of "Cookwise" by Shirley O. Corriher where I caught up on the importance of fats helping to aerate a cake.

That's what led me to a Southern Living cake recipe that started with shortening, an excellent fat to start a cake off right given the gas bubbles already nestled inside a stick of vegetable shortening. Well, much to my disappointment, that cake wasn't really that great. The texture wasn't a fine, moist crumb, but a chunky tough one with a crust that made no attempts at hiding its flaws.

Two days after baking that version, I received a magazine in the mail called Cuisine at Home, a publication I'd never heard of but assumed came via my subscriptions to other food magazines. The last two pages were devoted to an Old-Fashioned Chocolate Cake recipe. I read through the recipe and the accompanying text that boasted this as the cake your grandmother made. And not only that, it said the cake was simpler than a box mix. This, I had to try.

It wasn't until I started mixing this cake batter at about 9 o'clock one night last week that I realized I already knew this recipe. I hadn't baked the cake before, but I'd read this recipe. I knew the exact cookbook I'd seen it in, some community cookbook from New Mexico that I'm pretty sure came from a stack of cookbooks from my grandmother's house. It was the very first recipe in that book and was called Crazy Teenage Cake. Seriously, how could I not remember that?

What was odd about it the recipe is that it had no eggs, used vegetable oil for its fat and contained vinegar. Again, how could I not remember that?

As I waited for that cake to bake last week, I thumbed through my bookshelves and found that community cookbook and turned to that recipe. I sat, dragging my index finger through the batter clinging to the side of my mixing bowl and then licking it, again and again (remember, no eggs, even this pregnant woman can indulge in this cake batter) and compared the recipe from the magazine to the one in that book. The only difference is that the recipe from the magazine, which is surely armed with a test-kitchen staff, offered more precise instructions. It also struck me as odd that the cake was vegan, well before that trend caught the bandwagon, at least in this country.

I started poking around and discovered a few things. And to be fair, although I'm a nerd, I'm no historian, but here goes: During World War I, there was a shortage of meats, butter, eggs and lard, so ingenious cooks started coming up with ways to use what they had, including creating cake recipes without these ingredients. This also follows shortly behind the turn-of-the-century trend of baking with cocoa thanks to manufacturers such as Hershey's giving home cooks suggestions on how to use their products. Basic groceries, especially proteins and dairy remained hard to come by through The Depression and the second World War. Recipes like this one likely remained popular for a few decades before it was lost to all but the grandmothers thanks to box cake mixes taking off around the 1940s.

All of this made sense to me, but several searches revealed that versions of this cake are often called wacky or crazy, as in the Crazy Teenage Cake or simply Wacky Cake. It struck me as odd that such a silly name for a cake would stick -- and I'm not just referring to the community cookbooks. My best guess for this is that it has to do with the science behind the cake. It's a basic grade-school memory for most of us. When you combine baking soda and vinegar you get a fun, fizzy reaction that works well if you've built a replica volcano or are looking to power a rocket or vehicle with basic physics. The combination makes millions of gas bubbles that ooze and puff. Yes, fine volcano lava it does make, but it seems that it also does an amazing job of mimicking that aerated texture you might get from butter or shortening that has been whipped in a stand mixer until fluffy. You can even hear the experiment begin when you combine the wet and dry ingredients of this cake. It sounds like the fizz of a soda poured straight from a bottle.

Call it wacky, crazy or old fashioned, this cake is truly simple. It has a moist, fine crumb and true chocolate flavor, and, it really isn't that much harder than a box mix. You could keep it vegan with a simple dusting of powdered sugar, or do as I did and load it with some cream cheese icing. Either way, this is a recipe you won't mind keeping around, either.

The recipe follows in the previous post.

Crazy, wacky, old-fashioned choclate cake

2010-09-27T13:15:00.000-07:00

This is the recipe I modified from several different sources. The major change I made was using half cake flour and half all-purpose. If you only have all-purpose flour on hand, simply use that. The cake flour adds a little more lightness but isn't enough to compromise the texture of the cake.

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups cake flour
2 cups sugar
1/2 cup unsweeted cocoa powder, sifted
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 cups hot water
3/4 cup vegetable oil
2 tablespoons distilled white vinegar
1 tablespoon vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare two 8-inch-round cake pans with a spray oil or two dozen muffin tins with paper liners.

Combine the dry ingredients in one bowl. In another bowl, combine the wet ingredients. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry mixture and, whisking by hand, stir to combine. A few lumps are expected. Pour the batter into your pans and bake for 35 to 40 minutes for round cake pans or 14 to 18 minutes for cupcakes. When the cakes are done, a toothpick inserted should come out clean.

Let cakes cool completely on a wire rack before icing or cutting.

Cream Cheese Frosting

2 8-ounce containers of cream cheese, softened to room temperature
1 stick of butter, softened to room temperature
3 cups of powdered sugar, sifted
1 tablespoon vanilla

Combine the cream cheese and butter in the bowl of a stand mixer, whipping until the two ingredients come together and are light and fluffy. Slowly add powdered sugar, about a cup at a time, making sure to start the mixer off on a slow speed and gradually increase so you don't kick the sugar out of the bowl. Finally, add vanilla and mix to combine. Spread or pipe frosting over cooled cakes or cupcakes.

Cheap trick

2010-09-14T08:59:00.000-07:00

It seems like at every holiday or special occasion in my family, there's a cheese ball. It usually starts with cream cheese and is served with Wheat Thins. My mom's version includes pineapples, pecans and bell peppers. My mother-in-law's mixes in powdered Ranch dressing and then the whole ball is rolled in cracked pepper. I love both of these and happily shove Wheat Thin after Wheat Thin smeared with cream cheesy goodness in my mouth at Christmastime.

I took this same dish and just dressed it up a touch, substituting goat cheese for the cream cheese and simply mixing it with a handful of finely chopped herbs. Then, I rolled the whole thing in those same, finely chopped herbs. I got the idea from a friend who said it was a Martha Stewart trick -- either making one large cheese ball or delicate, bite-size balls, perfect for smearing on a cracker or crostini.

It was super easy, fairly inexpensive and can be made ahead and makes the perfect appetizer for a crowd. And if you have any herbs in your garden, the only thing you'd need to pick up is the cheese. Any combination would do. I used fresh arugula, parsley, rosemary and sage -- heavy on the parsley. If you're shopping for herbs at the grocery store, parsley is a wise choice because it's so much cheaper than most other herbs there.

When life gives you zucchinis

2010-09-08T13:58:00.000-07:00

I've got a couple of housekeeping chores for this little blog to take care of, then I'll get to business with yet another muffin recipe. I swear, you'd think I made nothing else, but I promise this won't disappoint.

As most of you likely know, I'm pregnant. And, as these things go, I'm getting pregnant-er by the day. I am pleased as punch to take doctor's orders and slow things down a bit. Of course, Jasper's memo got lost in translation, so I'm still running after him. But as far as stresses I can control, I'm giving myself a bit of a break for the moment after one crazy August filled with parties, neighborhood picnics and hundreds of deviled eggs.

So I ask for your patience in the coming weeks and months as I try to keep up with my regular posts. The thing is that I truly love this blog, and just when I think no one reads it, I meet a random person who mentions it. So, thank you to those of you who've stuck with me. The problem is that when I give myself a deadline of posting every Monday, I start to get really stressed if I haven't cooked something delicious or stumbled across some new recipe by Sunday. It sounds silly, but anyone else who's got an on-going deadline (albeit self-imposed) knows what I'm talking about.

If you want to be sure to not miss a post, you can friend me on Facebook, where you'll see I provide a link there with each new post, or of course you can do the whole RSS-thingy, too. I will try, though, as much as possible to provide one new recipe a week.

So about the muffins. I had been trying for weeks to come up with a good recipe for zucchini muffins. It sounded simple given that the summer squash is often turned into a sweet quick bread. But it turned out to be a bit more challenging than I thought. Sure, you could just take your quick bread recipe and pop it into muffin tins. I tried it, and just wasn't blown over by the flavor. Then I tried my basic muffin recipe and loaded it with shredded zucchini. It, too, wasn't bad, but it seemed a bit cakey, like the vegetable was crying out for something slightly more substantial, like the way a great carrot cake is delicate and hefty at the same time.

After spending way too much time thinking about these muffins, a very, very simple solution came to mind: I have a fantastic recipe for apple muffins. It's from Marion Cunningham's "The Breakfast Book." Excellent cooks will tell you that any Marion Cunningham recipe is a stand-up, solid recipe that can be trusted for all time. And let me just say in the world where it seems it doesn't take much more than a chipper smile or a dash of celebrity to get a cookbook contract these days, stand-up recipes seem to be harder and harder to find.

Apples and zucchini actually have a lot in common. Both will hold up to a nice, fine dice and then the moment they're cooked, release a ton of moisture. So swapping zucchini for the apples not only made sense, the recipe was so darn good, it would hold up to any number of substitutions. And the brilliant green-sided mini cubes in your muffin make for a pretty fantastic presentation.

So while our gardens continue to pump out zucchini, and our bellies are thinking there's no other use for it we haven't already tried, make these muffins. They freeze well after baking, so even if you're not baking for a crowd, it's well worth the effort.

I follow Cunningham's advice using three mixing bowls despite the fact that it creates more dishes to wash. I also use my hands to mix the batter as she advises. It's very stiff, and this seems to be the best way to get the ingredients well-mixed without overworking the batter.

Zucchini Muffins
Adapted from Marion Cunningham's Raw Apple Muffin recipe in "The Breakfast Book"

4 cups diced zucchini (peeled or unpeeled)
1 cup of sugar
2 eggs, slightly beaten
1/2 cup oil (corn oil is very good)
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup raisins
1 cup broken walnuts

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Grease 16 muffin tins.
Put 3 mixing bowls on the counter. Mix the zucchini and sugar in one bowl and set aside. Put the eggs, oil and vanilla in a second bowl and stir to blend well. In the third bowl, put the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt, and stir the mixture with a fork until blended.
Stir the egg mixture in to the apples and sugar, and mix thoroughly. Sprinkle the flour mixture over the zucchini mixture and mix well. (I use my hands because this is a stiff batter.) Sprinkle the raisins and walnuts over the batter and mix until they are evenly distributed. Spoon into the muffin tins.
Bake for about 25 minutes or until a straw comes out clean when inserted into the center of a muffin. Serve warm.

Variations: Substitute chocolate chips, currants or golden raisins for the raisins.

Ready when you are

2010-08-23T22:02:00.000-07:00

This week is a little slice of madness for me, and that's just the time when you need things in your fridge or pantry that are simply ready when you are.

Like pickled onions. Of course, this is nothing new, and excellent cooks have been filling their refrigerators with jars of the stuff for far longer than I've known how to boil pasta. The thing is, it's just not something home cooks do very often, despite the simplicity of it all.

Here's the rundown: Thinly slice onions. I like to use red onions and slice them on the mandolin, so I make quick work and get even, consistent slices. Stuff the onions into a glass jar or other non-reactive container. Then add vinegar to completely cover the onions. I like the combination of red wine vinegar and red onions. Cover, refrigerate and let cure for at least a day and up to a couple of weeks.

Check out this recipe for a great blend of spices to add. You can choose to simply do the vinegar and onions or play with your own spice mixture.

The best part is that once your onions are pickled, you can make any number of fantastic recipes. The onions turn a brilliant purple-pink color, and the taste is amazing. A bright, vivid punch of tang and slightly sweet. No harsh onion taste. Few other things bring so much color and flavor to finished dishes. Add them to salads -- everything from green to pasta to potato to rice salads. And don't forget sandwiches, humus plates, meat dishes and more. Take a couple of tablespoons of the brine, whisk together with equal parts olive oil and salt and pepper to taste. Instant salad dressing.

Go do this now. Tomorrow you'll thank the brilliant cooks who came up with this insanely simple technique.

Easy does it

2010-08-16T21:38:00.000-07:00

For the sake of my sanity, I need to work harder at my goal of simplicity. I've been just a bit overloaded lately, and I wasn't going to let a potluck side dish derail my weekend.

Corn on the cob would have to do. I love corn on the cob, and frankly, unless you're a 13-year-old with braces sitting at the lunch table with your boyfriend, I can't think of a reason anyone would dislike it.

I remember watching my Grandma Peach boil corn picked from her garden, and if you've ever had really fresh corn, you know that it is something to wait 10 months of the year for.

If you are fortunate enough to live in a city with a farmer's market, there's no better place to buy fresh corn. Look for ears with their husks still tightly wrapped with plump kernels that squirt a bit of juice when pierced. Shuck and cook the corn while the husks look lively and green.

I often slice my corn into halves or thirds, so you can quickly feed a good-size crowd with a dozen ears of corn. This recipe is certainly a quick, easy method, but I also like grilling corn on the cob or slicing the corn off the cob and sauteing in a hot pan with olive oil and salt.

Corn on the Cob with Chili-Spiced Butter

9 to 12 ears of corn, shucked and cut into thirds
1 tablespoon of sugar
1 tablespoon of salt, plus more to season to taste
1/2 cup butter, melted
Chili powder
Cracked black pepper
Ground coriander
Ground cumin
Cilantro for garnish

Fill a large pot with water about three-quarters full. Add the sugar and one tablespoon of salt to the water. Bring to a boil. Add corn to pot and continue to boil for about four minutes. Remove corn from water and place in a strainer over the sink. Work in batches if your pot isn't large enough to hold all of the corn.

While the corn drains and begins to cool, combine the butter and spices in a very large bowl. Start with a good handful of chili powder, adding more based on the flavor you'd like. Then add a dash each of coriander and cumin and several turns on your mill of black pepper. Season with salt to taste. With a fork or whisk, combine the butter and spices. Toss the corn in the butter mixture, using your hands to turn the corn to make sure each piece gets evenly coated. Transfer to a serving dish and garnish with cilantro. Serve immediately or refrigerate for service later at room temperature. Allow to stand on the counter for at least 20 minutes before serving.

Note: Recipe can be scaled up or down easily.

A cool summer treat

2010-08-04T14:49:00.000-07:00

About six years ago, I gave Seth an ice cream maker for his birthday. I didn't expect him to start making summertime desserts, but I thought the gesture was sweet because I could make him ice cream. He does help, taking the outdoor (or bath tub in the winter time) duty of packing the ice and rock salt and checking on the machine waiting for the gentle hum to turn to a slow whine when the ice cream is done.

Of course, they make quieter, more compact and less messy ice cream machines that do all that work just sitting on your kitchen counter. I don't mind packing the ice, it's the way my mom makes ice cream, so it always seemed to be the right way to me. Besides, hanging around outside watching the bucket sweat and a slow stream of salty water run away from the machine is part of the anticipation of the summertime treat.

Marionberries are an Oregon fruit similar to a blackberry.

Running the berry puree through a fine sieve will eliminate seeds from your ice cream. This step can be skipped if you don't mind the seeds.

Over the years I've tried several ice cream recipes. I tend to like fruit-flavors mostly, settling on a heavenly peach, blueberry, raspberry and just last weekend, marionberry. Some recipes have eggs, others don't. Some call for the eggs to remain raw, while others call for a slow heating, to make a custard. Those recipes are generally richer, and pretty darn delicious.

But sometimes you need a quick and low-pressure recipe. Folks, this is it. It doesn't get much simpler than this. The only downside I've found is that I don't think this recipe holds as well, meaning that a day or two after you make it, the texture just isn't quite as good as when it's fresh.
So, to remedy this, make it for a crowd, so you have nothing but an empty canister left when you're finished.

This recipe can easily be modified for any flavor profile, and because it's simply equal parts milk and cream, you can make as large or small a batch as you like.

Marionberry Ice Cream

2 cups heavy cream
2 cups whole milk
1 pint of marionberries (or any other type of ripe berry)
Approx. 3/4 cup sugar (baker's sugar is best but white sugar works)
Pinch of salt

Rinse and drain berries. Puree in a food processor or blender. To eliminate seeds, press berry puree through cheesecloth or a fine sieve. Add sugar to the puree by the 1/4 cup and whisking until sugar is dissolved (This will happen more quickly with the baker's sugar because of its finer granules). Taste as you add sugar as exact amount will depend on the sweetness of the berries. Combine the milk and cream in a bowl and add berry puree. Add a pinch of salt. Stir.

Pour mixture into ice cream machine and follow manufacturer's directions.

This ice cream could be eaten immediately as a very soft ice cream. Or transfer to a freezer-safe container and allow to set up for 4 to 6 hours.

Neighborly thanks

2010-07-29T13:56:00.001-07:00

My mom called me yesterday and said that since I hadn't updated my blog, she just wanted to make sure everything was OK.

Yep, everything is just fine. We're just easing back into our routine after a week on the road in Oklahoma visiting family. We had a great time seeing babies, cousins, parents, grandparents, siblings, aunts, uncles and, of course, that flat landscape dotted with oak trees and oil pumpers.

While we were away, we needed someone to check in on our chickens. Our three hens just started laying eggs a few weeks ago, so while they don't need their feed and water refilled every day, we did need someone to collect eggs. Our neighbors Mike and Diane offered to help, and I readily accepted. While they don't have chickens, they hardly think it's a novelty raising hens. They've lived on a farm, grew up with livestock and have children whose own hens provide most of the eggs they eat. They live in a house that's been in their family for more than 60 years, and they keep close tabs on what goes on in our little corner of the world.

Just before leaving and upon returning, we visited them several times, and Jasper was introduced to their fish aquarium and allowed to play with dolls in their living room. These grandparents know how to treat a little boy, and Jasper's no dummy when it comes to people doting on him. The last time we stopped by, he walked in like he owned the place.

As a thank you, I baked them a loaf of Whole Wheat and Molasses Quick Bread. It's from Mark Bittman, also known as The Minimalist, cookbook author and New York Times columnists. His recipes are always great, and I was introduced to this one by my friend Erin.

This bread is a cousin to that beer bread I love in that it is so easy to make that you think surely you must be missing a step. The molasses gives this bread a subtle sweetness, and the whole wheat flour and corn meal make it a dense loaf, perfect for thick slices.

Erin brought some to my house for dinner recently, and I toasted the leftovers the next morning. While I loved the bread the night before with just a smidge of butter, it was even better warmed with melting butter and a spread of raspberry jam made the week before by my neighbor Mike.

The Minimalist's Quick Whole Wheat and Molasses Bread
By Mark Bittman

TOTAL TIME
1 hour 15 minutes

Ingredients
  * Oil or butter for greasing pan
  * 1 2/3 cups buttermilk or plain yogurt, or 1 1/2 cups milk and 2
tablespoons white vinegar (see Step 2)
  * 2 1/2 cups (about 12 ounces) whole wheat flour
  * 1/2 cup cornmeal
  * 1 teaspoon salt
  * 1 teaspoon baking soda
  * 1/2 cup molasses

Preparation

1. Heat oven to 325 degrees. Grease an 8-by-4-inch or 9-by 5-inch
loaf pan, preferably nonstick.
2. If using buttermilk or yogurt, ignore this step. Make soured milk:
warm milk gently -- 1 minute in the microwave is sufficient, just
enough to take the chill off -- and add vinegar. Set aside.
3. Mix together dry ingredients. Stir molasses into buttermilk,
yogurt or soured milk. Stir liquid into dry ingredients (just enough
to combine) then pour into loaf pan. Bake until firm and a toothpick
inserted into center comes out clean, 45 minutes to 1 hour. Cool on a
rack for 15 minutes before removing from pan.

YIELD
  1 loaf

NOTE
    Lighter Whole Wheat Quick Bread: Use 11/2 cups whole wheat and
11/2 cups all-purpose flour; omit cornmeal. Substitute honey for
molasses. Beat 1 egg into wet ingredients in Step 3. Proceed with
recipe.

The heat is on

2010-07-12T13:23:00.000-07:00

Rice Salad with Mango & Avocado. Combine cooked white rice with cubed mango, avocado, thinly sliced red onion, green onion, salt, pepper, and a vinaigrette made of olive oil and red wine vinegar and a pinch of sugar. Serve cold.

Growing up, I don't ever recall the heat of an Oklahoma summer dictating too much of my life. It's possible that it did, and I just don't remember such things because I was too caught up the joys of summer.

When I was in elementary school, I remember thinking how amazing it would be if we had a Slip 'n' Slide, but somehow I still had a ton of fun running the neighborhood with Teddy, Talia, and, sometimes, my older sister's friends. I spent my middle school summers hanging with my BFFs Jenny and Lisa. We camped in Jenny's back pasture, stuffed Cheez Balls in our mouths until we could no longer laugh and took a few middle-of-the-night walks to meet up with boys. In high school I put my swimsuit on and mowed the yard, went fishing with my boyfriend and took the kids I babysat to the pool. Life, I'd say, was pretty good, not to mention air conditioned.

The climate in the Northwest is generally mild, so complaining about the heat seems silly. There's not much humidity, and even when the days warm up, the nights typically cool everything back down. That's why it seems unreasonable to have central air installed in our 100-year-old home. So, we install window units in the bedrooms to run just while we sleep. And the rest of the day, we spend rotating from one level of our home to the next, searching for the coolest spot. Sometimes it's cooler outside than inside, and sometimes you simply can't get an ounce of relief.

Watermelon Lemonade: Combine one quarter of a medium watermelon, in chunks, with a half gallon of lemonade. Puree in a blender or directly in the serving pitcher with an immersion blender. Strain through a cheesecloth or sieve if you want the pulp removed. Serve over ice.

That's how I felt last week, when, for three days in a row, the temperature climbed above 90 degrees. Yes, I know. I feel ashamed of my Plains State roots, complaining about a summer day in the 90s. But the thing you don't know, and couldn't know unless you lived it, is that when the nights don't cool off enough to really drop the temperature in your house, it begins to get like an oven, just slowly rising hotter and hotter each day. This is fine if you dart off to sit in an air-conditioned office all day, but we're just here. At home, in the heat. When the thermometer inside your house reads 80 degrees at 7:30 a.m., it's going to be bad.

So, hot, and pregnant, I went about my days last week keeping the heat in mind with everything from the clothes I put on to the way I'd do my hair (or not, as it turns out when I don't blow dry it) to the meals I'd make.

We ate rice salads, quinoa salads and pasta salads for dinner. I made no-bake cookies for our afternoon snacks, and, looking for a way to finally finished off a huge watermelon, I made watermelon lemonade to slurp through a straw while I watched Jasper play in the kiddie pool.

I'm fairly certain we haven't seen the last of the heat, and I am sure to be even more pregnant when the next heat wave strikes. I'll put another ban on using the oven. My opinions about the usefulness of bras will change, and I may even have to pull out the swimsuit (heaven help us all). But if I can find a shady spot to drink some watermelon lemonade and fill the pool for the boy, things will all right, heat and all.

Semi-Homemade

2010-07-06T14:33:00.000-07:00

About this time last week, I was wasting some time on the computer when I remembered I was to take a dessert for four to a girlfriend's house that evening. I finally had my energy back after a miserable cold, but I just didn't feel like a baking spree.

I was, however, willing to drive to the grocery store to pick up a few things, and that's just what I did. I feel a little like Sandra Lee and her Semi-Homemade shtick telling you this, but I'll go ahead anyways.

I remembered I had some whipping cream in the fridge that needed to be put to use. And with beautiful strawberries and raspberries in season, I figured I needed to find a use for the ruby jewels. And lastly, I had to consider my hostess, who is not big on chocolate.

Somehow, I came up with trifle, that English dessert that's layers of cake and cream packed into a bowl. It's such a special dessert, there's literally a dish named after it, a trifle bowl, of which I do not own. And therein came problem no. 2.

Although my hair is not nearly as blond nor coiffed as Sandra's, and I seldom pose for photos with a piping bag in my hand, I thought of nothing but her as I shoved cubes of angel food cake into wine glasses. It really was perfect, really, given that I wasn't so much as making trifle, I was just borrowing it's layered presentation. I suppose you could make yours a bit more trifle-like by soaking your cake in some brandy or rum if you weren't already running late to your dinner party.

The most refreshing part of this dessert was that it didn't take long for my daydream of Sandra's test kitchen to burst. Once I said the word "cake," Jasper pulled a stool up and thought I'd finally gotten it right by serving bite-size pieces of cake. As the boy tried to ask for more with his mouth stuffed, crumbs flying everywhere and sticky little fingers all over the counter, I realized that this is exactly the kind of moment that would give Sandra's world a real homemade touch!

Individual Raspberry Trifles

1 angel food cake, cut into 1-inch cubes
1 8 oz package of cream cheese, room temperature
1 1/2 cups whipping cream
2 to 3 cups of raspberries, divided
1/2 cup + sugar
Zest of one lemon
Mint leaves for garnish

Puree one cup of raspberries and set aside. In a stand mixer, whip the whipping cream until it develops soft peaks. Transfer to another bowl and place in the refrigerator. With a whisk attachment, whip the cream cheese and sugar in the stand mixer until light and fluffy. Add raspberry puree and lemon zest and whip until well blended and smooth. Remove the mixing bowl from the stand and fold in, by hand, the whip cream to the cream cheese mixture. Set aside.

In wine glasses, make a layer of angel food cake cubes, then top with a layer of the whipping cream. Then, arrange a few whole berries near the outside of the glass, so they are visible. Then repeat steps of layering cake and cream filling until the glass is full. Top with more of the whipping cream and a raspberry and mint leaf for garnish.

Transport tip: I had to carry these glasses to my friend's house, and couldn't quite figure out how to make it work until I remembered I still had the box my wine glasses came in. I just popped the filled glassed in the box and didn't worry a bit about them traveling in the car.

Grab a fork, it's gonna get messy

2010-06-30T14:40:00.000-07:00

Over the weekend when I thought for a moment I was feeling well again, I got a craving for these delicious rolls I had a few weeks ago. I had them at a friend's potluck dinner on a warm, sunny afternoon with kids buzzing everywhere. A neighbor, Heather, walked through the front door, apron still on, oven mits on her hands and set down a fresh-from-the-oven casserole dish of the most beautiful rolls I'd ever seen.

I asked if they were cinnamon roles, and she laughed saying that cinnamon was just too overdone. These rolls, she said, were lemon ginger.

This is the point where I really shouldn't have to write anything else. Sticky Lemon Ginger Rolls, as she called them, were enough to draw you in, just by name alone. I asked for the recipe multiple times, wanting to make clear it wasn't a polite, "Oh, I'd love this recipe," but a sincere, "Give me this recipe. NOW!"

I have to admit I was slightly intimidated by the recipe at first. It seemed so lengthy that it must be complicated. I was pleasantly surprised: No bit of it was too difficult. There were three major steps involved and some time to kill, but I somehow managed to squeeze it in between episodes of "Curb Your Enthusiasm" via Netflix, so, it's doable. I made the rolls the night before and let them hang out in the refrigerator until morning. I highly recommend this because not only will it yield you a fantastic breakfast with little work the morning of, but breaking up the work made it seem less intimidating.

This recipe does call for making your own candied ginger. It isn't hard, just combining water, sugar and sliced ginger over a little heat. I found this recipe was a reliable one. I did this several days in advance, popped the ginger (not coated in sugar) and its juice in a jar and kept it in the fridge. It's not bad to have on hand and can be added to a number of recipes such as muffins and pancakes.

My crack at this recipe yielded 20 rolls that were roughly three inches wide. I froze a few immediately after they cooled, and after a quick defrost in the microwave, they were equally delicious.

This recipe is without a doubt a keeper. Write it down, print it out, whatever you've got to do. And the dough for these rolls would work for any number of recipes -- cinnamon, if it's not too overdone for you, berries, cherries, dried fruits, nuts, whatever you can think of. Heather said she was thinking of a lime cherry combination. Let me just say, I hope I'm nearby again when those come out of her kitchen!

Sticky Lemon Ginger Rolls
By Heather Lehman

Dough
2 1/2 tsp yeast
3/4 cup milk (warmed to 100 degrees or so, but not too hot)
1 stick butter - very soft (microwave if you have to, but left out to soften is better)
1/4 heaping cup white sugar
1 1/2 tbsp vanilla
1/2 to 1 tsp salt
1 tsp nutmeg
2 eggs
zest of 2 large lemons
4 1/2 cups flour at the ready (you may or may not use all of it)

sticky filling
2 cups white sugar
juice of 2 large lemons and zest of 2 more large lemons
1 1/2 cups candied ginger (see recipe link below)
½ packet, or 4 ounces, cream cheese
4 tbsp soft butter

Glaze:
1packet cream cheese, softened
Juice of 1 large lemon and zest of 1 large lemon – or more
1 to 2 cups powdered sugar

Prep:
Put yeast in a large bowl and stir in warmed milk. Let rest for a little while. Stir in soft butter, sugar, vanilla and one cup of flour. Mix in salt, nutmeg, and lemon zest. Mix in eggs and second cup of flour until all flour is combined into sticky, soft dough. Add 2 cups of flour and knead dough until pliable and stretchy – if dough remains too tacky, add remainder ½ cup of flour. Kneading should take 5 to 7 minutes – don't overwork this dough!

Rub down bowl with vegetable oil and lightly coat the dough ball with oil. Cover bowl with plastic bag and towel and let rise until doubled (roughly 1 hour). This dough is fairly forgiving and you can start in on the rolling after 40 minutes but don't let it sit longer than 1 ½ hours.

While dough is rising make the filling. Mix sugar, nutmeg, ginger in a bowl or food processor. Mix in juice of one lemon until mixture is like wet sand. Add cream cheese until mixture is uniform but still grainy. If you don't use a processor, really make sure your ginger is fairly finely chopped. Lightly butter baking dishes. Two mid-size baking dishes would work or one standard sheet tray or cookie sheet with a rim.

Lightly knead the risen dough and divide into two equal pieces. Turn out one piece on a floured surface and lightly roll out into a rectangle of about ¼ to ½ inch thick. Rub down the dough with ½ of the softened butter (2 tbsp) and then rub the dough with ½ of the sticky filling. Starting at the long side, tightly roll up the dough into a tube. Cut tube into slices - no more than 2 inches per slice - and set them on buttered baking dish or tray so that they are close but not touching one another. Repeat with second half of dough and butter and filling.

At this point you can refrigerate the rolls for later use by covering tightly with wrap. They will stay good for at least 24 hours. Otherwise, lightly cover and let rise for at least an hour – they will double in size which is why you don't want to pack them in too tight after slicing. While rising, heat oven to 350 degrees and place risen rolls on mid rack for 30 to 35 minutes. It is very useful to have a thermometer read on these rolls – when they hit a center temperature of 190 degrees they are good to pull out of oven.

Mix all glaze ingredients together – should be pourable mixture but not too thin. I prefer a lot of glaze, but you may not. For less glaze, use the 1 cup powdered sugar and juice of 1 lemon. For more, use more lemon juice and powdered sugar but not more cream cheese.

Candied ginger recipe by David Lebovitz.

Patience, please

2010-06-23T20:28:00.000-07:00

Toward the end of last week my little guy got really sick, and, just as he began to get his color and energy back, I caught it.

So, between wiping his nose and mine, I haven't had much time to spend in the kitchen. OK, I take that back, I've still been cooking for the family, but let's just say I don't have the time, energy or sense of taste to make anything worth repeating.

I hope to be back in the kitchen soon, and plan to have a post ready early next week. Thanks for your patience, and just be glad you're reading this in the privacy of your own home or cubicle, far, far away from my germ-infested little house.

This, that and a side of slaw

2010-06-16T14:06:00.000-07:00

Before I forget, I wanted to pass along a couple of tips I've been meaning to share with you. As I'm sure many of you do, when I find a dish I like, I tend to make it a few times. And when I find one I love, I make it a lot!

I just love those Banana Chocolate Chip muffins, and last Saturday seemed like the perfect morning for them. We were all headed out of the house early to get to the biggest parade in Portland, The Grand Floral Parade. Seth rode on a bike-powered float, and the Jasper and I joined a few friends to watch the marching bands, horses and floats rolls by. It was fun, surprisingly sunny and warm, and an overall good time. But what I want to tell you was this:

I replaced one cup of all-purpose flour in this recipe with whole wheat pastry flour. I actually liked the texture a little better than the two cups of all purpose. I should also mention that I added two ripe bananas that were pulled from the freezer and thawed. That meant they were very juicy. I absolutely think the added moisture helped.

The second thing I wanted to tell you has to do with Dina's delicious beer bread, another recipe I've played with a lot in the past few months.

Again, I have substituted half of the all-purpose flour, but in this recipe, I used regular whole wheat flour. The results seemed equally tasty.
Also, I usually bake this in one large loaf pan. I tried dividing it up into two smaller loaf pans and freezing one after it cooled. This worked just fine. I do have to say that I like the larger slices, but that, of course, has nothing to do with taste. If you want quick, handy slices, slice after cooled and freeze sliced loaf. Then, pull one out at a time, and pop it in the toaster. Yum.
I cubed some of this yummy bread and made croutons with them. These were so good floating in a tomato-based soup. Needless to say, don't throw out the stale beer bread. Here's a crouton how-to.

As for a new recipe, I'll share one that was just a little something I pulled together on a whim to take to a neighborhood potluck. I called it Strawberry Coleslaw. It, like any good salad, made the best of limited quantities of a lot of ingredients. Coleslaw is very simple, and cheap for the budget-weary, to prepare, even for a crowd.

Here's how it was prepared. Get creative with your own version and add whatever fruits or veggies you have on hand.

I tossed together:
One head of green cabbage, shredded or thinly sliced
A couple of carrots, grated
An apple, grated
A mango, grated
A handful of strawberries, sliced

Then I mixed in a small bowl:
About 1/4 cup mayo
About 1/4 apple cider vinegar
Salt and pepper
About a cup of strawberries, pureed (I just plopped the whole berries in my dressing and used the immersion blender)
Enough sugar to balance out the sweetness (add by the teaspoon and taste)

Then combine the cabbage mixture with the dressing and allow to sit at least an hour before serving. Top with a few additional sliced strawberries.

* Many coleslaw recipes call for the cabbage to be soaked in salt water and thoroughly drained before preparing. This step helps keep the cabbage crisp if it will be held for a long period of time. I usually skip this step because I can't plan far enough ahead to do it.

Snack a no-go, dinner a go-go

2010-06-09T14:52:00.000-07:00

I wanted to tell you all about this wonderful little cracker that I'd made in fun animal shapes for Jasper. I wanted to tell you they were made with whole wheat flour and freshly grated cheddar cheese. I thought they were tasty, but when offered to Jasper, he asked for "fishies." It seems that damn Goldfish Cracker won't be leaving my pantry too soon.

Aren't they cute? But, since they aren't kid-tested, I'll have to look for another recipe before I pass one along. So now I'm going to to tell you a couple of dinner stories in pictures this week.

The first is an entree salad, a term that elicits a perplexed look on Seth's face, not out of disgust but sheer confusion. "It means we're having salad for dinner," I'll say. On a rare late spring Saturday, we had some sunshine around here, so we headed to the farmer's market for some goodies, which inspired the salad. I topped it with some broiled fish, which, in my book, elevates it from a first course to a main. A simple dressing of oil and vinegar did the job.

1) Tore lettuce greens and sliced radishes, carrots and kolrabi on the mandolin slicer

2) Sauteed canned chick peas (rinsed and drained) in olive oil until they turn a deeper, golden color. Add a liberal dose of salt.

3) Broil fish (no, that's not fish in the picture) with just a little drizzle of oil and well-seasoned with salt and pepper. Remove fish when done and turn the oven off. Then toss pita in the oven to warm (mine was actually frozen, and this thawed and lightly toasted it, yum).

4) Combine the veggies, chick peas and dressing, top with fish and serve with bread.

This second meal was also inspired by the farmer's market and a huge bundle of fresh asparagus. I'd wanted to make pesto with it for a while and have just been waiting for the season. I thought Jasper might go for it since I paired it with his favorite meal of pasta. He still wasn't overcome with excitement, but it may be the only bite of asparagus I'll get in the little guy this year. I really liked this pesto, and although pesto is hardly a new dish, I hadn't had asparagus pesto before.

1) Trim asparagus by grabbing each end with one hand and forcing it to break where it may. This is the best way to get rid of all of the tough end, which could ruin this dish. Toss with olive oil, salt and pepper. Roast in a 375 degree oven until very tender and slightly paler in color. Cool completely. Combine asparagus, a couple of tablespoons of grated parmesan, a couple of tablespoons of toasted pine nuts, an herb if you'd like and olive oil in the bowl of a food processor. Whiz. Add more oil as needed to achieve a spreadable paste. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

2) Toss with pasta of your choice. Mine was frozen cheese tortellini. I used the leftover pesto on a pizza the next day. Yum, too.

A timeless casserole

2010-05-31T20:39:00.000-07:00

We all have those go-to meals. They're easy, typically cobbled together with a few pantry staples and an overwhelming number of these are one-dish meals.

Luckily, one of the reasons most of these meals get stuck in our weeknight rotation is that the family loves them. And the cook, well, she can't complain when a meal hits that many high notes.

My standby meal, always waiting in the wings, is tuna casserole. I realized recently that despite mentioning it several times before, I've never shared the recipe. That's in part because I was never given a recipe. I grew up watching my mom make it. She would use a red, heavy-bottomed sauce pan for the sauce, that, when spotted on the stove top, almost always meant tuna casserole.

It's actually a fairly simple dish. It's a cheese sauce mixed with elbow noodles and canned tuna. It was always served with Saltine crackers at my mom's table, and leftovers never sat in the fridge too long. I remember one time sitting at the table in my Great Grandma Peach's kitchen next to my Grandma Pat. My mom and her grandmother were near the sink, and they were talking food. My Grandma Pat mentioned that she didn't care for tuna casserole but she made it regularly for her kids growing up. She also said she topped it crushed potato chips. The potato chips bit started the wheels turning in my head, but frankly, before that moment, it never occurred to me that the dish was something my mother took from her own.

Like my mom must have done with me, I often keep Jasper entertained while I cook by letting him pull up a stool and watch. When I make tuna casserole, he seems to be in heaven. He gobbles up the cheese nearly as quick as I grate it, and he loves the little bowl of flour I give him while I make my roux. And, like I remember doing as a kid, he wants to try the dried, uncooked pasta.

I don't vary from this recipe. In fact I got a little over-passionate about it while making it at a restaurant when someone suggested I add mushrooms or peas. I won't, however, think ill of you if you want to tweak the recipe. After all, my mom never put potato chips on hers.

Tuna Casserole
3 tablespoons butter
3 tablespoons flour
1 and 3/4 cup milk, slightly warm
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese, plus more for topping
1 can tuna, drained and flaked
Short-cut dried pasta, cooked to package directions*
Salt and pepper to taste
4 Saltine crackers, crushed

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Melt the butter in a sauce pan over medium heat. Once the butter melts and bubbles begin to disapate, add flour slowly while stirring. Continue to stir while butter and flour mixture cooks, until the mixture looses the raw flour smell, about 3 to 4 minutes. Slowly add the warm milk while whisking continuously. Once milk has been added, whisk every once in a while while it comes to a slow bubble. Begin to reduce heat, continuing to stir. The sauce should begin to thicken. Add shredded cheese and stir until melted. Add salt and pepper to taste. Add tuna and stir to combine. Pour sauce over pasta and stir to coat pasta with sauce. Pour pasta into casserole dish. Top with more shredded cheese and then sprinkle the crushed crackers on top. Bake until cheese topping is slightly browned. Can be prepared ahead, cooled and refrigerated and baked later. Allow for longer baking time.

* I typically use the small elbow pasta, but any pasta that would cup sauce would work. Elbow, shells, and penne probably work best. I typically use a round casserole that is about 9 inches in diameter and four inches deep. A 9 by 13-inch also works well. I fill the casserole with the dried pasta until the casserole is about 1/2 to 3/4 full to know how much pasta you'll need. I find that works better than measuring cups since different pasta shapes fill the casserole differently.

Cute and easy cupcakes

2010-05-24T20:55:00.000-07:00

Despite the fact that I am beginning to think I have given you the impression lately that the only tool in my kitchen is a muffin tin, I pulled it out again.

This time, however, I used it for cupcakes. It was really an excuse to make a good cream cheese frosting. I tried to make cream cheese frosting in a rush a few weeks ago and didn't let the cream cheese sit out long enough to come completely to room temperature. What I ended up with was frosting that looked like it was made with cottage cheese instead of cream cheese.

This time, I also found myself in a hurry, so, I confess, my shortcut was a boxed cake mix. But I'm forgiving myself because this post isn't about some delicious must-have cake recipe. It's just about dressing up something simple and fun with a couple of items in your pantry. A lemon, cream cheese and strawberry jam made this a memorable dessert.

I started with a white cake mix, added about one tablespoon of lemon juice and the zest from three small lemons. Once cupcakes were completely cooled, I loaded a piping bag with jam and inserted it into the center of each cupcake, giving each one a little shot of strawberry jam hidden inside.

The frosting is simple enough, as long as your cream cheese isn't cold. I let mine set out on the kitchen counter for about two hours. If you research cream cheese frosting recipes, you'll see that some call for added butter and others don't. I'll say this, the added butter makes them richer and can also give your frosting a bit better structure, I think, but for this busy day, I opted for cream cheese alone.

Once I dumped two boxes of cream cheese into the mixer with the whisk attached, I added about a third of a cup of strawberry jam and a third of a cup of powdered sugar. Mix on medium until the icing comes together smoothly. Taste and add more powdered sugar if needed. If you plan to pipe the icing, you may want to remove any large fruit chunks, so they clog the tip. Much like a butter frosting, this icing gets a little tough to work with when it gets too warm. If it's too loose, just pop in the fridge long enough to firm up, so it's easier to work with.

Frost them and top them with a strawberry slice and mint leaf. The best part of this little cupcake is that it would be heavenly with just about any cake and you could use any fruit jam. Think about raspberry chocolate, blackberry chiffon or orange vanilla. Pull out the muffin tin and get piping.

Play first, cook later

2010-05-18T09:08:00.000-07:00

A couple of weeks ago I checked out a cookbook from the library with a focus on family-friendly meals. I could quickly tell it wasn't the kind of book I'd like to have on my shelves, but I thought I'd at least give it a chance.

After reading through several recipes, I made one, a beans and rice dish. It was OK I suppose, but let's just say I haven't been craving it since. I feel like I could use a few more quick, family-friendly meals in my repertoire, but it seems sometimes those are the hardest to come up with. I think back to the dishes my mom made: goulash, French bread pizza, burritos and tuna casserole. I do make some of these for my family, too, but it always seems like the old standards are just that -- old.

We recently wrapped up a week of Seth being home with us on vacation. We had so much fun, enjoying meals together that we seldom get the chance to. And on a warm Sunday afternoon we took a walk and decided to make it just a bit longer with a stop at the park to slide and swing and climb. I felt a little urge to hurry home and get dinner on the table as the sun dropped to the treeline, but instead, we stayed and played.

When we got home, I pulled a pasta dish together without too much trouble. It was satisfying, good and everyone had seconds. There is nothing fancy, new or amazing about this dish, but, it's not a bad one to have in your stock of recipes. It might just give you the chance to enjoy the park a bit longer.

Pasta with Sausage and Red Sauce

1 28 oz can whole tomatoes, buzzed in the food processor or blender*
1 small onion, diced
1 clove of garlic, minced
1/2 pound of Italian sausage
1 pound of short-cut pasta (penne, rotini, farfalle, shells)
Parmesan cheese, grated
Pinch of red pepper flakes
Salt and pepper to taste

Cook the pasta according to package directions until al dente. Drain and toss with olive oil; set aside. Brown sausage in heavy-bottomed pot. Once cooked through, remove sausage from pot, reserving grease. Add onions and cook until soft and slightly browned. Add garlic and cook about 1 minute longer. Add tomatoes and stir, making sure to scrape up any bits stuck to the bottom of the pan. Add red pepper flakes, salt and pepper. Bring sauce to a low bubble and add sausage. Once combined, add pasta to pot and stir to combine. Add a handful of cheese and stir. Serve warm with additional cheese on top.

* You can use chopped tomatoes or sauce, but I generally like to start with whole tomatoes because that's where the best fruit is. Processors use the best tomatoes to can whole and then use lesser-quality for chopped and sauce products.

Browning bananas

2010-05-13T14:03:00.000-07:00

I'm running late, you may have noticed. I usually try to post on a Monday or a Tuesday, but this week I was having fun with my family at the Oregon Coast. We played in the sand, listened to sea lions bark, watched boats churn by and ate some delicious seafood.

Now, it's back to reality of sorts, and it seems I'm up to my eyeballs in laundry, work, cleaning and hosting the neighborhood gals for a night of fun.

All of that, and the quickly browning bananas in my fruit bowl are demanding I do something other than throw them straight into the compost bin. So, despite the fact that I gave you a muffin recipe last week, I'm offering up another. This is actually a post from about a year ago. But I swear it's my favorite muffin, and I just couldn't stand it if you didn't have the recipe.

Go, hurry, before the bananas turn to complete mush.

Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins
Adapted from a Boston Cooking School Cookbook muffin recipe

2 cups all-purpose flour
3 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup sugar
2 eggs, slightly beaten
1 cup plain yogurt
1/4 cup melted butter
1/2 cup chocolate chips
1 medium over-ripe banana, mashed well

Combine first four ingredients in a bowl. In another bowl, mix eggs, yogurt, butter and banana. Combine wet and dry ingredients and mix just until moistened. Fold in chocolate chips. Spoon batter into prepared muffin tins (greased or lined with paper cups). Bake at 400 degrees for approximately 15 minutes or until a toothpick insert comes out clean and tops are slightly golden. Let cool in tins for 10 minutes and then remove to continue cooling.

Muffin Morning

2010-05-03T15:48:00.000-07:00

Pretty much any recipe that calls for rolled oats soaked in buttermilk overnight is destined to be a keeper. Something magical happens when those thick, chewy oats spend a chilly evening soaking up tangy, creamy buttermilk. Instead of each oat working on its own, when the mixture is folded together with other ingredients like eggs, sugar and flour, the oats become the dense, moist structure of something delicious.

This recipe is from Marion Cunningham's "The Breakfast Book." This is one for your shelves, my friends. And what a great gift. Brides, moms and bakers don't need oodles of books about sauces and prime rib. They need a book full of recipes for great baked goodies. And Cunningham is one of the best.

So, pick up some buttermilk and rolled oats, and get to the kitchen. There's also something exciting about waking up in the morning and knowing your buttermilk-soaked oats are waiting for you. If muffins aren't your thing, I'm still singing the praises of this pancake recipe. And if you've got buttermilk left over, add some mayo, a splash of vinegar, herbs and seasoning and call it Ranch Dressing.

Seriously, nothing but goodness comes from this sour stuff.

Irish Oatmeal Muffins
From "The Breakfast Book" by Marion Cunningham

2 cups buttermilk
1 cup rolled oats
2 eggs
3/4 cup dark brown sugar
1 2/3 cups whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons vegetable oil

Combine the buttermilk and the oats at least 6 hours (preferably overnight) before mixing and baking the muffins. Stir well, cover and let rest in the refrigerator.
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Grease the muffin tins.
Put the eggs in a mixing bowl and beat just until yolk and white are blended. Add the sugar and beat until smooth and well blended. Add the buttermilk -oatmeal mixture. Add the flour, baking soda, salt and oil. Beat until the batter is well mixed.
Fill the muffin tins three-quarters full of batter. They usually bake about 20 minutes, but start testing for doneness after 15 minutes. Either remove the muffins from the tins and cool on racks or serve hot from the pan. Makes two dozen muffins.

Note: I added frozen blueberries straight from the freezer.

Greta done good

2010-04-27T10:43:00.000-07:00

Is it rude or boastful to say the dessert you brought to a dinner party was delicious? Sue me. It was.

When I was in middle school and high school I spent a lot of time with one of my best friends, Lisa. Her neighbor Marianne was a sweet woman who, at the time, didn't have a family of her own, so she adopted Lisa's. They had dinners, holidays and birthdays together. So, naturally, I saw a lot of her, too. She was a good cook and seemed to enjoy hosting dinners, and she was never shy about saying she enjoyed her own food. She just was a bit more lady-like about it.

"Greta done good," she'd say, and we'd all laugh, knowing she was talking about herself. I don't know where the name Greta came from or how the ritual got started, but it was genius. It made it OK for her to be the first one to say her casserole was superb.

Over the years, I adopted her saying for myself. Not that I'm shy about my cooking in front of my family, but I love the memory of sitting around Marianne's dining table and hearing her laugh after she'd praise Greta's work.

Go make this cake. It's simple but a little labor intensive separating 10 egg whites, but once you taste it, you'll take no shame in telling everyone how great your cake is. And should you feel the slightest twinge of guilt, just say, "Greta done good."

This is what the cake batter looks like after folding in the flour.

This cake recipe was published in the April issue of Bon Appetit as a Lime Angel Food Cake with Lime Glaze and Pistachios. I wanted to bring strawberries into my dessert, so I swapped lime zest for lemon, skipped the glaze and topped mine with whipped cream and macerated strawberries. Whether you go for lime and nuts or lemon and berries, this recipe is a winner.

Lemon Angel Food Cake

1 cup cake flour (I used Softasilk)
1 1/2 cups superfine sugar, divided
1/4 teaspoon salt
10 large egg whites, room temperature*
2 teaspoons lemon zest
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon cream of tartar

Equipment: 10-inch diameter angel food cake pan with 4 inch sides.**

Position rack in center of oven and preheat to 350°F. Sift flour, 1/2 cup superfine sugar, and salt into medium bowl; repeat sifting 3 times. Using electric mixer, beat egg whites, lemon peel, and vanilla on medium speed in large bowl until frothy (mixture may turn neon green but color will change when remaining ingredients are added). Add cream of tartar; increase speed to high and beat until soft peaks form. Gradually add remaining 1 cup sugar, 2 tablespoons at a time, beating until stiff peaks form. Sprinkle 1/3 of flour mixture over whites and gently fold in until incorporated. Fold in remaining flour mixture in 2 more additions just until incorporated. Transfer to ungreased 10-inch angel food cake pan with 4-inch-high sides and removable bottom (do not use nonstick pan); smooth top.
Bake cake until pale golden and tester inserted near center comes out clean, about 38 minutes. Immediately invert cake onto work surface if pan has feet, or invert center tube of pan onto neck of bottle or metal funnel and cool cake completely.
Using long thin knife, cut around cake sides and center tube to loosen. Lift out center tube with cake still attached; run knife between cake and bottom of pan to loosen. Invert cake onto rack, then turn cake over, rounded side up. Set rack with cake atop rimmed baking sheet.

Topping

Slice one pound strawberries vertically and gently toss with about three to four tablespoons of sugar. Let stand at room temperature for at least 30 minutes before serving. Refrigerate for longer holding.
Pour 1/2 cup whipping cream into the chilled bowl of a stand mixer. Add one teaspoon of vanilla and one tablespoon of superfine sugar. Mix on high until soft peaks form. Taste and more sugar if needed for desired sweetness.

* When separating egg whites, do yourself a favor and set up a station like this: one bowl or container for the yolks. One custard or measuring cup for whites. The mixing bowl and another bowl for egg shells. Crack one egg at a time, pouring it directly into your hand. Let the whites run off into the custard cup. Toss the yolk into the yolk bowl. Pour the egg white into the large mixing bowl. Repeat until complete. By cracking the eggs into a small cup instead of the large bowl, you won't ruin the entire batch if you break a yolk!

** It's important NOT to use a non-stick pan. You won't be able to cool it upside down otherwise. I found my inexpensive aluminum pan at Goodwill for $2.99.

Nice rice

2010-04-19T14:23:00.001-07:00

We've been eating a lot of rice around our house lately. We eat it as a side dish, stir fry it with veggies and call it a main dish, top it with a friend egg for breakfast or sprinkle it with sugar for a sweet treat.

That's why I was so happy when I made a lemon rice dish last week that I could have eaten in one setting. This wouldn't be so bad except I'd made a huge portion to take to a pot luck. I got the idea after reading a recipe in Bon Appetit. There was nothing wrong with their recipe, but I just didn't have all of the ingredients around. So, I made do with what I had, and that was more than enough.

The next day, I went to another pot luck party, with a surprisingly similar guest list, and one of my neighbors commented on the rice I'd brought the night before. He said he loved the vibrant green color the avocados gave it. I tend to agree. It was tasty, but it was pretty beautiful, too.

Lemon Avocado Rice
(this makes a pretty large portion, but it could easily be halved)

2 1/2 cups long-grain white rice, rinsed
4 1/2 cups water for cooking rice
2 large lemons
4 avocados
1 1/2 cup fresh or thawed frozen corn
Olive oil
Salt & Pepper
1 bunch cilantro

Bring salted water to a boil and add rice. Cover and reduce heat. Cook until just tender, about 15 minutes. Spread rice out onto a baking sheet for quick cooling. While rice is cooling, zest and juice the lemons. Using about 3/4 of the lemon juice, make a dressing with the juice, oil, salt, pepper and zest. The ratio should be about one and half parts oil to one part juice. Set aside. Dice avocados and toss in the remaining lemon juice. Roughly chop a handful or two of cilantro. Add dressing to room temperature rice and stir to coat evening. Add avocados, corn and cilantro and toss, being sure not to smash the tender avocados. Season to taste. Serve immediately or cover and refrigerate.

Brownie Therapy

2010-04-12T14:24:00.000-07:00

I've been on a bit of a brownie binge around here, making three recipes in two weeks in hopes of settling on the perfect homemade brownie.

While my family didn't argue with the ongoing brownie train, more than once I thought to myself that the box version isn't really that bad. I made brownies that were too rich and some that weren't rich enough. I settled on recipe I adapted from "Endangered Recipes."

But after all of this fuss, I remembered my friend Brian's famed brownies that show up at parties full of drinking journalists and end-of-summer barbecues.

I asked him to tell me about his brownies, and I was a little surprised to find that our recipes were very similar.

He told me his mother wasn't much of a cook, and a lot of the chores got passed on to the kids. He was the youngest and desserts were his duty. His brownie recipe started with the basics, and he just kept tinkering until he got it right. Perhaps without some lofty expectations, like an expert baker for a mother, Brian felt free to flub a few times before he got it right.

What Brian feels when he makes his brownies, is what we should feel when we cook and bake. He calls it therapeutic. Cooking and baking feeds more than your family. It is as vital as breathing but as beautiful, technical and creative as a fine work of art.

"That part of the recipe where you stir the sugar into the butter and chocolate, I just keep stirring and stirring and stirring," Brian says. "It looks so beautiful, all silky, that rich color, and whether it's true or not, I have come to believe that the lengthy stirring at that point is one of the keys to good brownies."

I agree. Making the brownies did a little something for my soul. Plus, a little taste of brownie batter, and your entire day starts looking up. Brian insists on mixing his batter by hand, while I went for the mixer. And my recipe had only two eggs, but his three produce a richer brownie. Be sure to read his note about allowing them to set up. If you like a little less goo, try the two-egg method. My recipe also called for just one cup of sugar, but I did add a few sweetened chocolate chips in along with my chocolate squares. I think either method produces the right amount of sweetness.

Because the recipes were so similar, I'll give you Brian's. It's a homage to everyone who had a mother who didn't teach them to cook. Sometimes, something even better surfaces when we're forced to make it up ourselves.

Brian's Brownies

4 squares unsweetened chocolate
1 1/2 tablespoons butter
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 teaspoon of vanilla (Or rum or brandy or any other flavor you want.)
3 eggs
1 cup of all-purpose flour
Half a bag of chocolate chips (Mini, regular, bittersweet, whatever angle you want to go.)

Melt the butter and chocolate together over low heat, careful not to burn the chocolate. Add in the sugar and stir until the mixture is really smooth. Remove from heat. Add the vanilla and stir. Transfer the mixture to another bowl and slowly mix in one egg at a time by hand. Add the flour and blend by hand. Add the chocolate chips. Pour into a greased 9-by-13 glass dish. Bake at 350 degrees for 32 minutes. If your oven runs at all hot, reduce it to 335 degrees or so.

The brownies come out mushy. You can't eat them right away. Let them set, either at room temp or in the fridge. I usually wait at least half a day before serving them.

A fresh potato salad

2010-04-05T06:09:00.000-07:00

I can wait until June for blueberries. And July for fresh melon. Even August for fresh corn. But having to wait until summer for potato salad just seems a little crazy.

I was in the mood for potato salad the other day, but I had more than a few restrictions. First, I was feeling a bit lazy, so it couldn't be too difficult, and second, I wasn't ready for a mayo hangover, so I needed something a bit lighter.

Without really thinking about it, I grabbed a few things from the fridge and cranked the oven. I decided to roast the potatoes instead of boiling them. It was easier; I didn't have to babysit something on the stove. Then I married a thinly sliced onion, the juice of a lemon and a splash of vinegar. By the time the potatoes were done, my onions were perfectly limp. Mix them with some chopped parsley and yogurt and ta-da -- a light, fresh dressing that isn't as heavy as mayo but doesn't fall short on flavor.

I threw in some carrots for color. I served this for dinner as sort of a salad medley, this salad along with a couple of others. I must have eaten a heavy lunch because the light meal hit the spot.

This potato salad reminded me of this spectacular salad I made last summer. I think both of them deserve a regular rotation alongside Grandma Sarah's more traditional potato salad.

Some of you may not think this could be a meal, but I would disagree. Top it with a sliced, hard boiled egg, and it sounds like a perfect lunch to me. Maybe that's what I'll do if I ever have leftovers. One can hope.

Lemon Yogurt Potato Salad

4 to 5 medium yellow potatoes, cut into equal-sized cubes
3 carrots, peeled and thinly sliced on the bias
1 small onion, thinly sliced
Juice of one large lemon
Roughly 1/2 cup plain yogurt
1 tablespoon white wine vinegar
Handful of parsley, chopped
S&P to taste
Olive Oil

In separate bowls, toss potatoes and carrots with olive oil, salt and pepper. Roast in a 400 oven on separate cookie sheets until cooked through. About 10 minutes for the carrots and 20 minutes for the potatoes. Combine onion, lemon juice and vinegar and set aside. Once potatoes and carrots have cooled enough to handle, toss them in a large bowl together. Combine onion mixture with yogurt. Add parsley and salt and pepper. Pour dressing over potatoes and carrots and gently toss to combine. Serve room temperature or cover and refrigerate for later service.

Comfort in the kitchen

2010-03-29T14:05:00.001-07:00

Every morning Seth cooks himself a fried egg while I cook oatmeal. We're usually in the thick of keeping the boy and the dog from destroying the house while we both itemize the tasks ahead of us in the day. I enjoy this time, especially since it's usually the one meal we all share each day, but I still miss time in the kitchen with other women.

Every time I return home I find myself in my mother's kitchen and in my mother-in-law's kitchen chopping onions, cooking dinner all while we catch up, gossip and chat about this and that. It's one of the things I miss the most about living so far away from my family. That chance to be together in the kitchen with such casual purpose, just being ourselves.

Last night I hosted my book club girlfriends plus one nice, brave man who joined us as a guest. We had just read "The Help" by Kathryn Stockett about a racially divided town in the early 1960s and one junior league woman who sets out to tell the stories of the southern small town's hired help. My menu was a traditional nod to the culture with fried chicken, buttermilk mashed potatoes and cream gravy with a green salad with buttermilk ranch dressing and cornbread served with honey butter.

It sounded delicious, but by the time the guests started arriving, things took a downturn. I'd been up most of the previous night with a sick kid and spent most of the day wishing someone else would cook that meal. I was running behind and wasn't keeping my eye on the chicken while I should have. That's when my friend Kim stepped in. She finished unloading my dishwasher and then made the salad dressing. Then she started in on the gravy. We laughed about our goofs and came up with a few quick fixes while the others enjoyed a glass of wine and chatted in the other room.

In the end, the meal was fantastic. Not because of the food, but because a group of friends sat around the table and laughed the night away. It made me appreciate how nice it is to have good friends, and it made me remember how much I enjoy another woman's company in the kitchen. Whether it's drying dishes or trying not to burn gravy, it's so much more fun with a friend.

Here's one little recipe from the night. It's a fantastic cornbread recipe from Fannie Farmer and the delicious honey butter to serve it with. I hope you have someone to cook with soon. Everything is just a bit more fun when you have company.

Corn Bread
The Fannie Merritt Farmer Boston Cooking School Cookbook

Mix and sift together
3/4 cup corn meal
1 cup flour
1/3 cup sugar
3 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
Add
1 cup milk
1 egg, well beaten
2 tablespoons shortening, melted*

Bake in a shallow buttered pan, 8 by 8 inches, at 425 degrees for 20 minutes.

*I used butter, but the book notes that butter, bacon fat, chicken fat or beef drippings can be used.

Honey Butter

1/2 stick butter, room temperature
2+ tablespoons honey

Combine the butter and honey in the bowl of a stand mixer and whip together until thoroughly combined. Taste for sweetness, add more honey as desired. Once honey butter is made, you can spoon it into a shallow bowl, fill molds with it and refrigerate or create a log and refrigerate. I filled a round mold to make a disc and placed the disk in a shallow bowl. Be sure the butter is soft when serving.

The first day of spring

2010-03-22T07:00:00.000-07:00

This weekend was one of those that reminded me the warmer days of summer cannot be too far away. It was about 70 degrees here Saturday with lots of sun, and, as if that was not enough, it was the opening weekend of the farmer's market. My apologies to my family in Oklahoma who suffered a cruel joke of a heaping snow on the first day of spring.

We spent our Saturday mostly in our backyard, working in our garden, so excited about the months to come. We just prepped the beds and transplanted some herbs that had overstayed their welcome. When you see how crazy mint grows, you'll laugh the rest of your life when you see a $4 bundle of it in the grocery store.

We also spent time doing things like this.

We got three chicks about a week ago and have been having fun watching them grow, literally, day to day. Jasper is cute and pulls his tiny lawn chair into the garage where we're keeping them for now and sets it up just outside their bin to watch them bounce around under the red light. On Saturday, we pulled them out into the yard for the first time. It was fun to watch them, although I think they were pretty scared at the expanse our tiny back yard must have appeared to them.

Before the sun sank too low, we fired up our Weber and grilled buffalo burgers and carrots tossed in olive oil and a Moroccan spice mix. Sharp shredded cheddar went atop the burgers and the carrots were tossed with arugula for a salad. It was a happy meal.

To tide us over, I pulled together a little snack. I suppose you could call it a dip or a salsa, but it seems most like a relish to me. It's simple and quick and so flexible, it can indeed find a place on your table through summer.

It's just diced avocado, a can of black beans, corn and lime juice. In the summer, I will no doubt serve up the same dish with cilantro from the garden, bright orange cherry tomatoes and sliced peppers. It's great with chips or put it atop rice, fish, chicken, tacos or quesadillas. It's addictive and simple, and you will not have to worry about leftovers. Promise.

Avocado, Black Bean and Corn Relish

1 ripe avocado, large dice
1 can black beans, rinsed and drained
1 cup of corn (rinsed canned or thawed frozen)
Juice of 1 small ripe lime
Coriander and salt to season

Combine ingredients and let stand at room temp for at least 10 to 15 minutes. Stir gently and serve immediately.

Pesto Picnic

2010-03-16T16:25:00.000-07:00

Things have been a little crazy around my house these days. In the past four days we've hosted my parents who are in town for a visit, bought three baby chickens which are now living in a Rubbermaid bin in my garage and made a late-night trip to the emergency room for a boy sick with croup.

Somewhere in there before the kid was sick, we squeezed in a trip to the zoo, and I needed a lunch that would feed four adults and a kid without much fuss. I thought given everything else that's going on, I'd just make it a theme to be fuss-free for a few days. This pasta dish is perfect for just such occasions. It's made straight from your pantry when you want something a little more upscale than a peanut butter and jelly. In fact, I made it when I catered my cousin's bridal luncheon and just topped it with grilled shrimp for a sophisticated feel.

So if you could use a recipe for a dish that can easily go from brown-bag lunch to Saturday entertaining, write this one down. And in full disclosure, in case it's not blatantly obvious, it's not my recipe any more than anyone owns a pesto recipe. This is just the way I make it.

Lemon Artichoke Pesto

1 pound pasta (I like a short-cut like rotini with lots of curls to scoop up pesto)
About 1/8 cup toasted pine nuts
About 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 can artichoke hearts, drained
Juice of 1 large lemon
1/4 cup, plus, olive oil
salt and pepper to taste
Handful of arugula (or parsley or any other soft-leaf herb you like)

Cook pasta according to package directions. Once drained, toss in olive oil and let it cool. Set aside. Place the remaining ingredients in the work bowl of a food processor and whiz it all together until it combines, adding in additional olive oil until you get a consistency similar to a grainy mustard. Toss pasta in pesto and either serve immediately or refrigerate.

Extraordinary, right at home

2010-03-08T06:41:00.000-08:00

As a kid, I liked being the one at the table who was willing to try anything. Let me just make clear, though, that I'm not referring to my grandmother's aspic, and my family didn't really get past the Bible Belt in our car trips, so I'd never even heard of something like calamari. I'm talking about lamb fries, alligator and mushrooms. Yes, there was a time in my life when mushrooms seemed pretty exotic.

I might have thought I'd traveled to France, but nope, just Fort Worth, Texas. That's where my Uncle Tom and Aunt Glynis lived. I must have been in grade school, but I remember so very clearly watching Glynis cook sliced portabella mushrooms in a red wine sauce. She served them alongside steak. Everything at their house seemed a little extraordinary to me what with my older cousins, their bird and the way Santa once delivered My Little Ponies to me on Christmas morning at their house.

But those mushrooms were extraordinary. Tasting them flipped a little switch in my head, like etching in a permanent note that not all foods foreign to me were bad. Some of them, in fact, are delicious.

I'm guessing I would have gotten around to trying mushrooms whether or not Glynis made them that night for us, but I am so thankful I fell in love so early.

I now love buying wild mushrooms from a picker at my farmers' market, and I know enough to know that's the guy who knows how to cook a mushroom. Get one raw plucked from a salad bar, OK. But get one that's golden from a saute in butter with just a sprinkling of salt, and, Hell-o, Mushroom.

There is absolutely a right way to cook a mushroom, and too often cooks serve up a wet, dark mass that epitomizes the mush in mushroom. But cook them right, and you've got the start of something magical.

I made a mushroom soup last week that starts no less than 10 cups of sliced mushrooms, and just to note, the pre-sliced variety are too thick. Yeah, it's a lot of work, I suppose, but I guarantee if you taste a well cooked mushroom, it just might change your outlook on at least the rest of your day.

I worked in three batches, sauteing my mushrooms in butter and olive oil, giving them a chance release their liquid and them caramelize in it. The batches are so you don't crowd the mushrooms, which will get you a steamed, tasteless khaki blob. Much like cooking other veggies correctly, you can't stir these guys every five seconds either. They need time on the heat, in contact with pan, not sandwiched in an inch-thick layer or mushrooms. If they're cooked correctly, those 10 cups will turn in to no more than three.

The good news is that once you get the mushrooms cooked off, the rest of the soup comes together quite easily. It's a hearty, thick soup that is no doubt a meal, even for the meat eater.

There's not too much of winter left, so let's trot out those recipes that in just a few short weeks will seem (thankfully) out of season. Serve this soup with some delicious crusty bread and snuggle on the couch. You may not be going anywhere exotic, but those mushrooms just might make you feel extraordinary right at home.

Hungarian Mushroom Soup
Adapted from Old Wives Tale in Portland, Ore.

8 tablespoons butter
Roughly 6 - 8 tablespoons olive oil
Roughly 2 pounds mushrooms (such as crimini)
2 medium yellow onions, diced
1 teaspoon paprika
1/2 teaspoon turmeric
5 cups milk, room temperature
5 tablespoons flour
1 cup sour cream, plus more, if desired
2 to 4 cups water
dried dill
salt and pepper

Thinly slice mushrooms, stems and all. In a heavy-bottomed, large pot, saute 1/3 of the mushrooms in about 1 tablespoon of butter and 1 tablespoon olive oil. Saute until mushrooms are golden brown and the moisture has cooked off, about 7 to 10 minutes. Remove from pot and set aside. Work in batches, repeating until all of the mushrooms are cooked, remove from pot and set aside. In the same pot, saute the onions in a little olive oil. Once the onions are nearly cooked through, add the turmeric and paprika and continue cooking until onions are cooked. Remove from the pot and set aside with mushrooms. Add five tablespoons of butter to the empty pot and melt over medium heat. Once butter is melted, make a roux by adding flour and whisking for about two minutes while cooking. Then add the milk, whisking to bring together roux and milk. Season with salt and pepper and bring to a slow boil. Add mushrooms, onions and water, one cup at a time until desired consistency, to the milk mixture. Season with salt and pepper to taste, and simmer on low heat for at least 30 minutes. Just before serving, finish with dried dill and stir in sour cream until soup is smooth.

Note: If you prefer, you can skip the roux steps and thicken the soup with a corn starch slurry, but the roux does produce a richer flavored soup.

You can give you soup another boost by adding a few chopped, dried mushrooms soaked in warm water. Then, use that soaking water to substitute the remaining water in the recipe.

How could something so good be so simple?

2010-03-01T08:57:00.001-08:00

Before I tell you about one of the most delicious dinners I've made recently, I wanted to share a recipe I found on the blog Orangette.

It's for oatmeal pancakes, and I have to say it's one of the -- if not the -- best pancake recipes I've ever eaten. And don't be turned off if you're not an oatmeal fan. Honestly, Seth would never have known there were oats in there if I hadn't told him. If you are, however, a fan of sweet, salty, buttery goodness, then warm the griddle. Check it out here, but do come back and read about my pasta dish.

So this pasta, it's the kind of quick meal that puts the whole 30-minute-meal phenomenon to shame. There are no gimmicks. It's simple and delicious, and very, very addictive.

I found this recipe a few weeks ago for Bagna Cauda Broccoli. Bagna cauda is the Italian sauce of olive oil, butter, garlic and anchovies, and if you don't believe my praises, believe that the Italians know a little something about simple and delicious.

I expanded on this recipe for some friends, tossing in cauliflower to the mix. Then one night last week when 5:30 rolled around, and I didn't have dinner on the stove, I reached for some spaghetti, cranked the oven and went to work.

I roasted some broccoli, cauliflower and carrots, cooked the pasta, made the sauce and tossed the whole mess together. There really are very few words to describe how great this dish is. I even used whole wheat pasta without batting an eye. It was unbelievable. Seriously. And the beauty of it is that the sauce takes only a couple of minutes to make. You could add any roasted veggies you want -- or none. Do add the nuts, though. Toss 'em in the dry skillet just before making the sauce to toast them slightly. I'm all about using one pan for many tasks. The dishwasher will thank you. And in my house, that's me.

Below is the recipe. And if you think you don't like anchovies, just squint your eyes and plow through this. When you're eating it, you won't even notice they're in there, and they add a salty taste that is surprisingly unfishy-like.

If you're feeling generous, share. If not, I'll understand.

Bagna Cauda Pasta

4 to 5 tablespoons butter
2 to 3 tablespoons olive oil
several garlic cloves, minced
4 or so anchovy fillets, mashed with the back of a fork
3 or so cups of veggies such as broccoli, cauliflower, onions or carrots, trimmed or diced
1 lemon, juiced
Splash of white wine
Handful of nuts such as pine nuts or walnuts
1/2 pound of spaghetti or other pasta
Olive oil
Parmesan cheese
S & P

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Prep the veggies, cutting them all into similar size pieces so the roasting times will be the same for all. Toss veggies in olive oil to coat and season with salt and pepper. Spread them in a single layer onto a cookie sheet. Place in the hot oven until slightly browned and tender throughout (about 15 minutes if your pieces aren't too big).

Boil salted water for pasta, and cook until tender. In a dry skillet over medium heat, toast nuts, shaking the pan, careful not to burn them. Remove nuts and set aside. Now in the skillet, combine butter and olive oil and melt over medium heat. Once melted, add garlic and anchovies and cook, stirring for about three to four minutes. Add the lemon juice and white wine. Reduce over low heat for about four to five minutes then remove from heat.

Combine the pasta, veggies, nuts and sauce in a large mixing bowl and toss gently to coat. Top with finely grated Parmesan cheese and enjoy.

A winter salad to love

2010-02-22T13:34:00.000-08:00

Tossing a handful of decent greens, chopped veggies, nuts and a drizzle of olive oil will no doubt produce a respectable salad. But when you stop thinking salads are limited to raw vegetables, great things will happen, especially in winter when the bounty of summer seems only a distant memory.

I was to bring salad along to two different events over the weekend, and mostly because I'm lazy, I didn't make the time to shop especially for those events. So, I decided that some beets, arugula and blood oranges would have to do because that's what I had in the house. And I was not disappointed after roasting the beets, pickling some onions and zesting that blood orange.

The salad was delicious with the sweet beets and blood oranges balanced with the peppery arugula and the slight tang of red wine vinegar from the pickled onions. Not bad for lazy winter day, eh?

Another perk of this salad was how well it traveled. I took it about three blocks down the street in the basket of the jogger stroller for one event and then about 50 miles away to another tucked in a bag in the back of the car. All of the toppings rode snugly in half-pint jars sealed with a lid, the onions still swimming in vinegar and the oranges in olive oil. Just before chow time, toss them all in a large bowl with arugula and enjoy. Winter may not be such a bad season after all.

Roasted Beet, Blood Orange and Arugula Salad

2 medium-sized beets, peeled and trimmed
1 large blood orange, zested then segmented
1/2 small onion, thinly sliced
4 to 5 handfuls of arugula
red wine vinegar
olive oil
salt and pepper
cheese (optional) such as Beechers or other farmhouse cheddar broken into small clumps

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Place the beets in a baking dish, wide end down, then drizzle with oil and sprinkle with salt. Roast beets until tender throughout, about 30 to 40 minutes. Remove from oven and completely cool.

Place thinly sliced onions in a small bowl or half-pint jar. Add just enough red wine vinegar to cover onions. Set aside for at least one hour, preferably a couple of hours. Onions will be limp and pink when ready.

Zest the blood orange and put zest in another small bowl or half-pint jar. Add about two tablespoons olive oil to zest. Add a healthy pinch of salt and a little pepper. Segment the orange and transfer the segments directly into the jar with the oil mixture. Cover and set aside. Refrigerate if it is more than two hours before serving.

Thinly slice cooled beets either on a mandolin slicer or carefully with a chef's knife. Set aside beets, covered and refrigerated until ready to eat.

To prepare salad, let any refrigerated ingredients come up to room temperature. Then place arugula in a large bow. Dump in the orange and oil mixture. Add beets, separating as you go, as the thin slices will stick together. Pull the onions out of the vinegar with a fork and add to the greens. The vinegar on the onions will be enough for the dressing. Add cheese if you want then toss the whole thing together. And at the end of the meal, I suggest using a chunk of bread to mop up the beet-orange-vinegar liquid that will coat the bottom of the bowl.

A cookie recipe to write down

2010-02-15T06:16:00.000-08:00

It's pretty common around our house that when about 9 pm rolls around and we're snuggled on the couch enjoying an episode of whatever TV show via Netflix has us captivated at the moment, Seth will look at me and ask, "Do we have any dessert?"

We often settle for a sliced pear, toast with Nutella or ice cream topped with strawberry jam. But some nights we eat warm chocolate chip cookies, and those are the nights when just about everything in the world seems right, even if for just a moment.

Seth asked for cookies on a recent evening when I had none to offer. But the next rainy afternoon seemed like just the day for baking cookies. It was then that I realized I didn't really have a go-to recipe for chocolate chip cookies. It's one of those recipes that you can find anywhere, like say the back of a bag of chocolate chips, so why would you need to write one down? Well, it turns out there is a good reason.

Most of those standard recipes will suffice. They'll produce a nice golden cookie studded with chocolate. But every once in a while we eat a chocolate chip cookie that reminds us that even the ordinary can be extraordinary.

I remembered a recipe I'd read nearly two years ago from the New York Times about the best chocolate chip cookie. A quick online search and I'd found it precisely. Although I didn't bake them when I first discovered this recipe, I remembered what set them apart -- a sprinkle of sea salt atop each mound of cookie dough. The recipe also calls for cake flour. Cake flour has a lower protein content than, say, all purpose flour. The lower protein content means the flour will produce less gluten and, in turn, be lighter and fluffier than higher-protein flours. I used cake flour, and I was rewarded with a soft cookie that spread nicely in the warm oven.

Any cookie, no matter the recipe, just tastes better warm, so bake only what you need, freeze the remaining dough, already mounded into cookies. That way, you just pull them out and bake one, two or twelve cookies at a time.

Chocolate Chip Cookies
Adapted from Jacques Torres Originally published in the New York Times, 2008

Time: 45 minutes (for 1 6-cookie batch), plus at least 24 hours’ chilling

2 cups minus 2 tablespoons

(8 1/2 ounces) cake flour

1 2/3 cups (8 1/2 ounces) bread flour

1 1/4 teaspoons baking soda

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1 1/2 teaspoons coarse salt

2 1/2 sticks (1 1/4 cups) unsalted butter

1 1/4 cups (10 ounces) light brown sugar

1 cup plus 2 tablespoons (8 ounces) granulated sugar

2 large eggs

2 teaspoons natural vanilla extract

1 1/4 pounds bittersweet chocolate disks or fèves, at least 60 percent cacao content (see note)

Sea salt.

1. Sift flours, baking soda, baking powder and salt into a bowl. Set aside.

2. Using a mixer fitted with paddle attachment, cream butter and sugars together until very light, about 5 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Stir in the vanilla. Reduce speed to low, add dry ingredients and mix until just combined, 5 to 10 seconds. Drop chocolate pieces in and incorporate them without breaking them. Press plastic wrap against dough and refrigerate for 24 to 36 hours. Dough may be used in batches, and can be refrigerated for up to 72 hours.

3. When ready to bake, preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a nonstick baking mat. Set aside.

4. Scoop 6 3 1/2-ounce mounds of dough (the size of generous golf balls) onto baking sheet, making sure to turn horizontally any chocolate pieces that are poking up; it will make for a more attractive cookie. Sprinkle lightly with sea salt and bake until golden brown but still soft, 18 to 20 minutes. Transfer sheet to a wire rack for 10 minutes, then slip cookies onto another rack to cool a bit more. Repeat with remaining dough, or reserve dough, refrigerated, for baking remaining batches the next day. Eat warm, with a big napkin.

Yield: 1 1/2 dozen 5-inch cookies.

* When I made them, I halved the entire recipe and made smaller cookies (about 3 inches) and wound up with about 18 cookies.

Grapefruit Cake

2010-02-08T06:31:00.000-08:00

I was intrigued recently when a friend on Facebook updated her status to say she was making a grapefruit cake. I usually just slice mine in half and sprinkle a little sugar on top for a winter breakfast treat. But when I started to think of using grapefruit just as you would any other citrus, I got excited. Cakes, sorbets, salad dressings and fish dishes. This is clearly not just a breakfast food.

Thankfully Ellen responded promptly to my Facebook request for the recipe and within a day I had one baking in my oven. After reading through the recipe, I quickly realized this wasn't some sexy cake with pillowy peaks of icing that belonged on the pages of a food magazine. It was a humble cake, baked in loaf pan and drizzled with a thin icing.

The cake reminded me of a lemon bundt cake my grandmother made a few times, but that cake had an overpowering lemon flavor that must have come from Jell-O powder or something else clearly not once a lemon.

But this cake was better. In fact, the grapefruit flavor was very subtle and grew slightly stronger in the days after it was baked. That humble little cake was really beautiful with its delicate, dense and slightly sweet flavor. The interior was peppered with grapefruit zest and the top was sticky moist with a grapefruit syrup.

The fact that the cake resembled a loaf of sweet bread was alright by me. It made me feel a little less indulgent as I shoved a piece in my mouth right over the sink for a mid-morning snack.

Call it dessert or call it breakfast, but this is a cake recipe to keep around.

Grapefruit Cake
Thomas Keller’s Ad Hoc at Home

Cake
2 cups flour
1 ¾ teaspoon baking powder
1 2/3 cups granulated sugar
1 teaspoon kosher salt
2 eggs
1 cup whole milk
¾ cup canola oil
1 tablespoon grated pink grapefruit zest
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Grapefruit Syrup
1 cup strained fresh pink grapefruit juice
2/3 cup granulated sugar

Grapefruit Icing
¾ cup powdered sugar
1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon fresh grapefruit juice

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 10x4 or 9x5 inch pan or lightly oil it.

Sift flour and baking powder. Stir in the salt. Set aside.

Combine the sugar and eggs in a mixer and beat at medium speed for 3 minutes until the mixture is thickened. Beat in the milk, then the oil, grapefruit zest and vanilla. Reduce the speed to low and add the flour mixture, mixing just to incorporate.

Spread batter in the pan. Put the pan on a small baking sheet and bake for 30 min. Turn the pan around and bake for another 30 min. Transfer the pan to a cooling rack.

Meanwhile, combine the grapefruit juice and sugar in a small saucepan, bring to a simmer, stirring to dissolve sugar. Simmer one minute. Set aside.

When you remove the cake from the oven, using a long skewer, poke deep holes every ¾ inch or so all over the top. Immediately begin brushing the syrup over the cake. It may be necessary to wait for the syrup to soak in, but continue until you’ve used all the syrup. Let the cake cook for about 10 min.

Unmold the cake onto a cooling rack. Turn it right side up, and let cool to room temperature.

Stir the powdered sugar and grapefruit juice together in a bowl until smooth. Using a soon, drizzle the icing on a diagonal over the top of the cake, allowing it to drip down the sides. Slice and serve. Enjoy!

Tortillas + Fish = Quick Dinner

2010-02-01T22:11:00.000-08:00

Tortillas have been a pantry staple in my house for some time, and lately I've been reaching for them more and more.

Add avocado and salt for a tasty snack. Or scrambled eggs and sharp cheddar for breakfast, or cut into strips and pan fry for a soup or casserole topping. There's good reason tortillas are a staple to Mexican cuisine -- fresh, fried or stale, they're the start of many a meal.

They saved me one night last week when I was staring at the fridge trying to decide what to cook while my son, starved for attention, tugged at my leg. I needed to come up with some dinner, and quick.

That's when I thought: tortillas + fish + veggies + canned beans.

I'm not offering a formal recipe, but more of an account of my meal. The idea is that the dish is easy to make and flexible, so I give you the basics and then you adapt it to your own pantry and skills set. Simple enough?

I sliced a white fish fillet into strips about 1/2 inch thick. Then, the fish was tossed in a mixture of mostly cornmeal with a little flour, salt, cumin and coriander -- that's right, skip the messy, wet step of typical frying. Preheat a frying pan with a shallow (about 1/4 inch) dose of oil like vegetable or canola. Once the oil is hot, drop the fish strips in. Fry until golden, and then turn to cook second side (just a couple of minutes total cooking time).

I placed my fish strips on warm tortilla along with some sauteed veggies, although shredded cabbage would have been tasty, too. Then I topped the whole thing with a sauce made from mashed avocado, lime juice and yogurt. Warmed, canned beans made it a square meal.

My tool box

2010-01-25T14:06:00.000-08:00

I'm not a sucker for kitchen gadgets. It helps that I'm cheap, but I also have always followed a pretty good rule: There are very few kitchen tools you need that perform just one task.

I used to say there were no kitchen tools you need that were one-task wonders, and then a friend pointed out to me that a cherry pitter is a handy tool despite the fact that we couldn't think of another use for it. So, buy the cherry pitter, but think twice about avocado slicer, the orange peeler and the grapefruit knife.

In this food-obsessed world, it's no surprise that retailers have pegged us American home cooks as gluttons for FoodTV-endorsed gadgets. I do not need a George Foreman Grill, Rachael Ray's Bubble and Brown nor Emeril Lagasse's Deep Fryer.

What I do need, what every cook really needs, is a great chef's knife.

My knife is the one tool that gets used over and over again each day when it comes to everything from a whole chicken to an apple. It's a decent knife, but not the top of the line. I've had it for about seven years, and I'd guess I'll be using it for many more.

So I wanted just to share with you a few tips when it comes to your kitchen knives. Here goes:

Despite what the sales person told you, you do not need a different knife for every kitchen task. Spend your money buying just three good knives: A chef's knife, a paring knife and a serrated bread knife.
There are two types of metal knife construction, forged and stamped, and it's important to know the difference when shopping. Forged knives are typically heavier, sturdier and more durable. These are easily spotted as the type of knife where the blade and handle are all one piece, making the handle heavier and easier to use. Forged knives are typically more expensive but will last a lifetime if cared for since they can be professionally sharpened. Stamped knives are lighter in weight and less durable. These knives typically have a handle that is made of wood or plastic.
It's true that you are more likely to cut yourself with a dull knife than a sharp one, so get your knife professionally sharpened regularly. Home-sharpening tools help correct the beating knives take in daily use, but they simply can't as good a job as the pros. My local hardware store sharpens knives. Look for stores that specialize in knives. If they don't sharpen, they can tell you who can. Some kitchen stores have knife-sharpening hours as well.
A serrated knife can't easily be sharpened, but if it's used properly it should last a long time. Use serrated knives to slice breads, cakes and other soft, delicate food items. Because slicing breads doesn't take the same manpower as chopping a dozen onions, it's OK to go with a less expensive serrated knife.
If you use a block to store your knives, insert them upside down. This will keep the blades from dulling as they're pulled in and out. Other good storage options are magnetic strips mounted above a work surface.
Even though that granite you love won't be scratched, it's still not the place to chop and slice. Use wood or plastic cutting boards, not glass or other hard, solid surfaces, which will dull your knives. Also, knives can slip on hard cutting surfaces, making it way to easy to cut yourself instead of the food.
When shopping for a chef's knife, get your hands on it. You really need to actually slice something (think onion, not banana) to get a feel for how comfortable it is to work with. Specialty kitchen stores or knife shops sometimes give customers the chance to try out knives.

An easy recipe

2010-01-18T09:01:00.000-08:00

What makes a recipe easy isn't very simple to explain. Easy can mean fast, no-professional skills needed or maybe it means you've got all the ingredients in your pantry. But what can be most troublesome is that easy does not always equal convenient.

Take the recipe for no-knead bread I tried out a few days ago. I first tasted this homemade bread in the days after Jasper was born. Our friend Vickie brought a loaf over along with a boatload of Pasta Fagioli that was amazing. Although I could not remember to ask her for the recipe for nearly a year and half, I somehow remembered that she said it was baked in a Dutch oven. It was simple enough, she said, and sent along the link to this New York Times story.

The ingredient list is short: flour, salt, yeast and water. What isn't so short is the time. This bread takes time, and a lot of it. Thankfully, you don't have to do much to it, though, aside from let it hang out snug in a covered bowl for 18 hours. Then, simply turn it out, and let it rise for another two hours.

I have now made three loaves of this bread, and two of them have turned out delicious (the third went to my friend Eileen who has a brand new baby on her hands, and I have no expectations of a sleep-deprived momma calling me to discuss the crumb of my bread). The trouble was that the first loaf ended up bottomless because it stuck like glue to the pot I'd baked it in. The recipe just calls for a heavy-bottomed pot with a lid, and since I don't have a Dutch oven, I substituted my 6-quart soup pot. The second loaf went to the oven in my round, glass Pyrex with much better results.

On the third round, I learned that this bread was actually pretty easy to bake. It was a nice reminder that just because something doesn't turn out right the first time doesn't mean you shouldn't try it again. After all, I'd only really invested three cups of flour into this thing.

Here is the recipe as it ran in the New York Times with my baking notes to the side. Try it at least twice. It will get easier. Promise.

And a side note, a dead camera battery kept me from uploading photos from two weeks ago. Check out this post with photos now.

No-Knead Bread Published November 2006 in The New York Times Adapted from Jim Lahey, Sullivan Street Bakery
Time: About 1½ hours plus 14 to 20 hours’ rising
Yield: One 1½ pound loaf

3 cups all-purpose or bread flour, more for dusting
¼ teaspoon instant yeast
1¼ teaspoons salt
Cornmeal or wheat bran as needed.

1. In a large bowl combine flour, yeast and salt. Add 1 5/8 cups water, and stir until blended; dough will be shaggy and sticky. Cover bowl with plastic wrap. Let dough rest at least 12 hours, preferably about 18, at warm room temperature, about 70 degrees. I could not for the life of me figure out the 1 5/8 cup of water, so thank you Google. I used 1 1/2 cups plus 2 tablespoons. Also, I rubbed the bowl lightly with oil, and I did allow mine to rise for the full 18 hours.

2. Dough is ready when its surface is dotted with bubbles. Lightly flour a work surface and place dough on it; sprinkle it with a little more flour and fold it over on itself once or twice. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rest about 15 minutes.

3. Using just enough flour to keep dough from sticking to work surface or to your fingers, gently and quickly shape dough into a ball. Generously coat a cotton towel (not terry cloth) with flour, wheat bran or cornmeal; put dough seam side down on towel and dust with more flour, bran or cornmeal. Cover with another cotton towel and let rise for about 2 hours. When it is ready, dough will be more than double in size and will not readily spring back when poked with a finger. The generous coating of flour on both the towel and the top of loaf is very important so that it does not stick. Don't skip this step and be very generous. And next time I might even do a light coat of oil on the bottom and sides of the pan.

4. At least a half-hour before dough is ready, heat oven to 450 degrees. Put a 6- to 8-quart heavy covered pot (cast iron, enamel, Pyrex or ceramic) in oven as it heats. When dough is ready, carefully remove pot from oven. Slide your hand under towel and turn dough over into pot, seam side up; it may look like a mess, but that is O.K. Shake pan once or twice if dough is unevenly distributed; it will straighten out as it bakes. Cover with lid and bake 30 minutes, then remove lid and bake another 15 to 30 minutes, until loaf is beautifully browned. Cool on a rack. The towel bit is important, I think. It helps get the loaf into the baking dish without disrupting it too much. My oven required only the additional 15 minutes after removing the lid. Be sure to check it early and remove when the top is browned.

Happy plates

2010-01-11T08:06:00.000-08:00

Sunday morning Seth walked down the street to buy the Sunday paper while I made some banana chocolate chip muffins for breakfast. When he returned, the three of us sat around the table enjoying our muffins while Seth flipped through the paper, and I thumbed through Parade. Jasper was busy playing with the chocolate on his fingers.

I absolutely hate that I love Parade. It seems like a fake magazine. I mean, if you wanted real news, wouldn't you just stick to the newspaper that it comes wrapped in? And even the celebrity gossip news is second rate. But I do love it. Always have, thanks, I think, to my mom. I love to read the celebrity questions on page 2, the Amish fireplace ads and the recipes that look like they're ripped out of Woman's Day. Yes, I know it's hardly the recipe as prose of Julia Child, but it never hurts to read 'em.

I noticed a recipe for a Maple Orange Chicken. It sounded simple enough, a close cousin to that Sweet & Sticky Chicken I love.

While trying to settle on a side dish for the meal, I remembered a can of coconut milk I had in the pantry. So I made coconut rice and added steamed, cubed sweet potatoes to it. We served the chicken and its sauce right over the top. We all cleaned our plates, and Jasper wouldn't stop eating until we gave him the last little bit of rice.

At my dinner table, we decided this was a keeper: A weeknight dinner recipe that was sure to please again and again.

Coconut & Sweet Potato Rice

1 16-ounce can of coconut milk
1 cup Jasmine rice (or other fragrant white rice)
1 large sweet potato, peeled and cubed
Coriander
Salt
Water

Combine coconut milk and enough water to equal two cups of liquid. Pour liquid into medium sauce pan, season liberally with salt and bring to a low boil. Add rice, stir and cover. Simmer for approximately 15 minutes or until rice is tender and most of the liquid has been absorbed. Add a dash of coriander and season with additional salt if necessary. In a separate pan, steam sweet potato cubes. Combine rice and sweet potato. This could be done ahead and reheated before service.

Maple Orange Chicken
Adapted from Parade

4 boneless, skinless chicken thighs
2 tablespoons maple syrup
2 tablespoons orange marmalade
2 tablespoons water
Juice of 1/2 lemon
Salt and pepper
Olive oil

Drizzle enough oil to coat the bottom of a heavy-bottomed skillet and heat over medium-high. Season both sides of chicken and place chicken in a single layer in the hot pan. Cook until golden brown and chicken releases easily and flip to cook second side. Depending on the thickness of the chicken, the meat may need additional cooking. If so, transfer browned chicken to a baking dish and place in a 350 degree oven until chicken is thoroughly cooked. Remove chicken from skillet and place heat on medium low and combine the syrup, water and marmalade. Whisk to remove the bits from the bottom of the pan. Once sauce comes to a low boil, reduce heat and cook another couple of minutes. Turn the heat off, add the lemon juice and season to taste. Toss the chicken in the sauce and serve.

An old gift

2010-01-05T13:03:00.000-08:00

So you may have noticed I blew my deadline this week. If I told you that on Monday, when I usually make my post, I woke up at 3:30 am after about 4 hours of sleep, spent about 8 hours in airports or airplanes with my 15-month old, while battling a cold, would that be a good excuse?

Hope so, because I wanted to share a little gift I got while spending Christmas and New Year's with our families in Oklahoma. We all received so many gifts from our generous relatives. I have to say, though, one of the things I will treasure most wasn't a gift at all, but more like passing on of something that may have otherwise been destined for the recycle pile. It was a yellowed note card in my grandmother's handwriting. We call her Mom, and to the surprise of most everyone outside of the family, this has never been confusing. Mom was never an avid cook. She raised three Baby Boomer boys through an era of deep freezer foods, Jello salads and canned produce. She was always the hostess and made appetizers like celery stuffed with pimento cheese.

She and my grandfather, Pop, who are 83 and 85 respectively, recently moved out of their home of more than 40 years. It was a sad event to see them leave the house where they'd hosted those countless family holidays. And the magnificent, over sized lot where their ranch house stood. There was a magnolia tree in the front where, perched on various branches, my cousins and I spent lazy summer afternoons. And the backyard was a forest compared to my family's newly-built subdivision lot, and it made for the best Easter Egg hunts on the planet.

That recipe card was for a dish called Wild West Corn. It's a silly name for what I gather would have been a ubiquitous dish in its era. It's basically cream cheese, milk, corn and peppers, served in a casserole.

I decided to make it last night to go along with our pulled pork sandwiches, and while I was warming the cream cheese and milk, I began to think about how out of place this recipe seemed at the moment. The trendy cooks today look for non-GMO corn, preferably fresh and in season. Hiding it in cream cheese would seem inappropriate to say the least. But that's how recipes from another decade can seem. Out of context, they can be meaningless.

It comes from an era where weeknight dinners at Applebee's weren't even an option. And many women cooked for their families every meal, seven days a week. And these were Boomer families with several kiddos. It only makes sense that you'd depend on a few dishes that came from pantry staples, were cheap, fed a crowd and the kids would eat.

Obviously, Mom thought this recipe was good enough to copy and add to her recipe file. I don't know how much she actually made it, and I don't remember ever eating it at her house. It wasn't bad, but, not surprisingly, it tasted like corn and cream cheese. I sauteed chopped onions and red pepper instead of pimentos, and I left out the chilies in hopes Jasper would like the dish.

I'm passing this recipe on to you not because it's the latest thing to wow your dinner guests with. But read through it and think about what recipes you'll be passing on to your future generations and what they say about your family right now. And if you do want to make it, I suggest getting a little creative. Add some spicy sausage, cheddar cheese, frozen hash brown potatoes. Or make it in the summer with fresh corn and just enough cream cheese to hold it together.

I'll treasure this old recipe card, and not because of the dish, but because when I hold it in my hands, I'm linked to a kitchen so foreign and so close to me. It's a way to remember where I came from and a reminder of the cook I want to be.

Wild West Corn
Margaret "Mom" McFall

1 8-ounce package of cream cheese
1/2 cup milk
1 4-ounce can green chilies, diced
1 2-ounce jar of pimentos
1 teaspoon salt*
2 cans whole-kernel corn, drained**

Melt cream cheese and milk, stirring constantly. Add remaining ingredients. Pour into buttered casserole dish. Bake 30 minutes, uncovered at 350 degrees. (Double for a 9-by-13-inch pan.)

*If using frozen corn, add additional salt to taste.
** I used about five cups of frozen corn instead of the canned.

Bread for a winter's night

2009-12-28T06:00:00.000-08:00

When it's cold outside, and all you want is a warm bowl of soup and huge chunk of bread, this is a recipe for you.

It comes from my friend Dina, and although she gave me the recipe a while back, I didn't really start making it until a few weeks ago. I am dumbfounded at how easy it is to make. And it doesn't involve any rising or resting time. In fact it's some strange cross between a quick bread and a yeast bread.

It is yummy, buttery and delicious. I want to try it soon as muffins, but haven't had the chance yet. And I think some sharp cheddar cheese added to the batter could be heavenly. But making it just as this recipe suggests is plenty good. Dina suggests using a light beer, although thanks to the dark, seasonal beers Seth likes, I've used a couple of different varieties, all with tasty results.

So bake this bread up alongside a soup or stew, and I guarantee your family won't be disappointed.

Dina's Beer Bread

3 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
12-ounce beer
1/4 cup butter, melted

Mix dry ingredients in a bowl. Add beer and mix. Pour into greased pan and bake for 1 hour at 350 degrees. Half way through the cooking time, remove bread and pour melted butter over top. Return to oven and continue baking. Cool slightly before slicing.

Thank you, Norma

2009-12-21T06:00:00.000-08:00

After the last post about Aunt Joan's Molasses Crinkles, I got a note from an old college professor, Norma Wilson.

Norma probably has more special meaning to me than she even knows. She was the one who encouraged me to apply for a position on the campus newspaper staff. In her writing lab I learned things I'd never heard of before like search engines (come on folks, it was 1998) and how to turn an interview into a written piece. It sounds so silly writing this that these would be things someone would teach you, but she did. And out of all of my college professors, I rank her up there pretty high in terms of the skills she taught me, both about newspapers and life.

I did land that job at the campus newspaper, but most importantly, I met this guy who work there who was nerdy cute with his glasses and huge sideburns. Turns out I must have been nerdy cute to him, too. We dated, moved across the country together, got married and are living happily (yes, we have our bad days, but give us some perspective, folks) ever after.

Norma, I thank you.

But I also thank her for reminding me that one year I brought her some of my mom's Peanut Butter Cup Cookies. In that note she sent last week, she told me that she still makes them every year at Christmas. So perhaps my cookie recipe will offer up some of what I owe her. Of course, I do hope a heavy dose of gratitude settles my debt.

My mother has made these cookies for as far back as I can remember. I've seen similar versions with chocolate kisses, but I've not seen anyone else create this combination. If you like peanut butter and chocolate, you can't go wrong. My mom always made them with the store-bought refrigerated cookie dough that comes in logs. That made it super easy to bake the cookies. I can't seem to find peanut butter cookie dough at the store any more, so I made my own. The only special tool you need is a mini-muffin tin.

The one thing you need to know is that you need all of your peanut butter cups unwrapped before the cookies come out of the oven. And be careful, it's hard not to eat one or two while you unwrap a few dozen!

Peanut Butter Cup Cookies
Cookie Dough recipe adapted from Better Homes & Gardens Cook Book
makes two dozen

1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup peanut butter
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
Wax paper
24 Reese's Mini Peanut Butter Cups, unwrapped

In a large mixing bowl beat the butter and peanut butter with an electric mixer for about 30 seconds or until combined. Add the granulated sugar, brown sugar, baking soda and baking powder. Beat until combined. Beat in the egg and vanilla until combined. Slowly add flour, combining as you go. Lay a large sheet of wax paper flat and dump the dough onto the paper. Using the paper to keep your hands from sticking to the dough, roll the dough into a log roughly 12 to 14 inches long. Chill for one hour or freeze for later use. Using a non-stick spray, coat your mini-muffin tin. Slice the dough into roughly 3/4-inch discs. Quarter each disc and drop one of those quarters into each muffin hole. Bake at 375 degrees for about 7 minutes or until the cookies are puffed and slightly browned. Remove from the oven and immediately stuff the unwrapped peanut butter cups into the middle of each cookie, leaving the entire cookie in the tin. Let the cookies rest for about 15 minutes and then carefully remove them from the tin and place on a cooling rack. Either refrigerate or let stand uncovered long enough for the chocolate in the cookies to harden once again. Store in an airtight container.