Month: April 2010

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Dear Dr. Hill, just a note to let you know that the sodas in my cart were not for me.

Please don’t judge me by the contents of my shopping cart. In a town of this size, with my foody reputation at stake, I worry about being seen with some inorganic, white bread, prepackaged, corn syrup -infused product. With my best friends carrying around Michael Pollan’s Food Rules like a bible in their pocketbooks, I don’t dare risk being caught with anything but the slowest of foods. So it was with great dismay that today, after purchasing 6 entire liters of soda, I felt a gentle touch on my arm, and there was my children’s pediatrician saying, “Hi there. Nice to see you.” I smiled and murmured something back (knowing of course, that he doesn’t even know my name — just that I’m MaxMollyJoe’s mom), but all the while wondering, “Did Dr. Hill see the soda in the bags in my cart? Will he blame their asthma on the Diet Sprite? Thank goodness they have healthy BMIs!”

Last year my friend AJ asked me to pick up some brownie mix for her at our neighborhood IGA grocery. No big deal for most people, but I was mortified at the idea of having to purchase such a product. Have you ever read the list of ingredients? Do you know how silly-easy it is to make them from scratch?!  My son Max was with me and I said to him, “Max, what if one of my friends sees me buying brownie mix? I’m known for my brownies!” He said, “Mom, I’ll go down the brownie mix aisle myself and get the box.” I seem to recall that he even offered to stand in a different check-out aisle and pay for it himself. He was willing to take the fall for me. My son is a mensch.

I loath soda, and brownie or pancake mixes, and prepared salad dressings. Anything “light” or diet are even worse. Take a good read at any of these packages and you can’t help but realize that you’re in for a tasty meal of additives. Not to mention that it takes about as much time to whip up something from scratch as it does to make it from a mix. There are a few mixes that I will occasionally purchase, if they have real ingredients, with names that I recognize and would use myself.

I recommend the books Fast Food Nation, and The Omnivore’s Dilemma. My husband bought me Fast Food Nation as a gift about 10 years ago. Since reading it cover-to-cover, all in that day, we no longer take our kids to McDonalds. In fact 2 out of 3 of them will refuse to go.

So, Dr. Hill, just a note to let you know that the sodas in my cart were for an event at our temple tonight. The other ladies like the idea of serving a punch and they had me pick up the ingredients. I didn’t taste a drop, nor did my children. I swear.

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Happy Meal

“You’re kidding, right?” was the response from Max when I yelled upstairs for him to come down for his happy meal. We’re not that kind of McFamily, so this is my version of a happy meal.

Make a roast beef and provolone on toasted whole wheat, easy on the mayo. Then throw in a handful of mixed salad for crunch, and arrange a happy pattern of their favorite vegies and fruits. The bonus today was a leftover citrus bar on each plate. It sure made them happy that it was lunch time.

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Very Veggie Stir Fry

Stir fry with asparagus, green beans, chard, broccoli and cauliflower.

After eating pancakes for dinner last night our bodies were screaming out for some vegetables.

Here’s a very simple method for a quick stir fry:

  1. Marinate the raw, cut up chicken in some soy sauce and garlic and/or minced ginger for as much time as you can before cooking.
  2. Cook the chicken and marinade in a little oil along with a handful of chopped green onions, until cooked through, then take it all out of the pan and put it aside in a bowl while you cook the vegetables.
  3. Add a little more oil to the pan, cook the vegies in order of how much cooking time each requires.
  4. Add a couple of tablespoons of water and let them steam for a minute or two.
  5. When they’re cooked how you like them, put the chicken back in the pan, sprinkle on a bit more soy sauce and another handful of green onions. Add some red pepper flakes if you want it spicy.
  6. Heat through and serve with some sticky rice.
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Citrus Bars

Fresh lemon juice and orange juice concentrate make these especially moist and fruity. The pastry is as short as they come; very flaky. Their only real short-coming is that they aren’t chocolate.

Citrus Bars

Cut together, or pulse in a food processor, then press into a 9 x 13 pan:

  • 2 cups flour
  • 1/2 cup powdered sugar
  • 1 cup butter

Bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes.

Meanwhile, beat together:

  • 1-3/4 cups sugar
  • 1/3 cup lemon juice
  • 4 Tbs. orange juice concentrate
  • 1 tsp. lemon peel
  • 1 tsp. orange peel

Then add to that:

  • 1/4 cup plus 1 Tbs. flour
  • 1/2 tsp. baking powder

Blend well, and pour into hot crust. Bake for an additional 25 minutes.

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Strawberry Short(pan)Cakes

With a nod to my Swedish friends, we had pancakes for dinner tonight, topped with vanilla yogurt and heaped with strawberries.

I follow the 1-1-1 recipe for making up pancake batter, as follows:

  • 1 cup milk
  • 1 egg
  • 1 cup flour
  • 1 tsp. baking powder
  • 1 Tbs. oil
  • 1 Tbs. sugar

From there it’s great to improvise. Tonight I used 1/2 whole wheat flour and also poured in some wheat germ. In place of 1/2 of the milk I substituted some yogurt. So even though it’s pancakes for dinner, it’s pretty healthy!

Another great variation is to add a whole grated apple and some cinnamon.

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20 Minute Pasta Sauce

Thick and chunky pasta sauce over tortellini, served with garlic bread and fresh green beans.

Wednesday is our busiest day of the week, which is why it’s pasta night. Boil some noodles, open a jar and dinner is done. I planned on tortellini, but didn’t realize that I was out of sauce until the water was boiling, so I mixed one up in less than 20 minutes. It was delicious.

20 Minute Pasta Sauce

  • 1 28 oz can of diced tomatoes (I used Trader Joe’s Organic Tomatoes, Diced in Tomato Juice, and they were exceptionally sweet.)
  • 2 cans tomato paste
  • 1/4 cup red wine
  • 2 large cloves garlic, minced
  • 1/2 tsp. salt
  • 1 tsp. basil

Keep in mind that I never measure when I throw these things together. The fun is in imagining the flavor, adding something, tasting and adding until you like it.  When I was done I wrote down approximately what I put in the sauce.

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Salmon Patties

Yesterday I made one of the last comfort-food dishes of the winter season. Before the 80 degree weather made it’s way through the thick walls of our old house, I heated up a pan, whipped up some cream sauce and fried up some salmon patties for my dad. Allegedly, this is my father’s favorite dish. A throw-back to the 50’s, it really must be served with the white sauce thick with peas. I resisted the temptation to add a side of jello and canned peaches, and instead I served a nice green salad.

Salmon Patties (makes 3)

  • a large can of salmon
  • 1 egg
  • 1/2 cup bread crumbs
  • 1 diced green onion
  • 1/2 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

Form into patties and gently heat in a pan with a little olive oil. Brown each side. Serve with a standard white sauce, seasoned with salt and pepper. Stir in a handful of frozen peas and heat slowly.

This is a plain recipe, and you can doctor it up with some dill or cumin or pepper.  Using canned salmon is not for the timid. I like to remove as much of the skin and bones as I can before mixing with the other ingredients.

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Ruth’s Square Cookies and The Blue Bowl

These cookies, pictured below, are from my mother’s recipe entitled “Square Cookies.” (Next fall I’ll show you her cherry cake recipe which is made using plums.)

But maybe your brain prefers this next photograph, made from the same recipe:

Also called Brown Sugar Cookies, the only difference between these two versions is in the shape of the cookie and the size of the pecan pieces.

Before the age of electronics, when I was bored, I would sit on the floor of my mother’s kitchen with my back against the refrigerator and wait for a job. My first job, when I was probably three or four, was to grind nuts into the blue bowl. The blue bowl is the smallest of the colorful Pyrex nesting bowls, made in the 1950’s. My sister and I have a secret love affair with these bowls. We’re always on the look out for them. Recently, I purchased an entire set at a flea market! They are packaged carefully away in our garage, waiting for the time when my 13 year-old daughter has her own kitchen. I used to run the bowls in the dishwasher until I noticed that their luster had faded, so I gave those away and purchased a like-new set on e-bay. On the advice of my sister, these are hand-wash only.

Today I gave my son Joe the job of filling the blue bowl with chopped pecans for Grandpa’s favorite cookies, square cookies. Since Grandpa doesn’t like that many nuts I made him some of the round ones.

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Cilantro Rice

Every time I taste cilantro I am startled by how good it is. And then I forget all about it. It’s not a flavor that made its way into my Jewish mother’s kitchen and it never became a habit. But tonight I wanted to do something different with our standard black beans and rice so I very purposefully purchased a fresh bunch of cilantro at the Mexican grocery store, and added some to the rice while it cooked. It’s nice living here in our little college town, a cultural oasis in the middle of the farmlands. We’re lucky to have the Mexican store with the fresh tortillas from Chicago; the Asian store with fresh sushi; the Indian market, etc.

Cilantro Rice

  • 2 cups raw rice prepared according to package directions, and to this add:
  • 1/2 cup chopped cilantro
  • 1/2 tsp. lime juice
  • 1/2 tsp. salt

Cook, and fluff in an additional 1/4 cup chopped cilantro before serving.

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Brownies 3 ways at once

I took brownies to my dentist appointment last week. Before I handed them to the receptionist I asked, “Is it in poor taste to bring brownies to the staff in a dental office?” Before I could finish my question, she answered with a stone-faced, “No, it’s not.”

I like taking brownies places. People get really excited at the mention of the word. I think it’s a great way to make friends.

This is a triple recipe — standard fare in my kitchen. I make it in an 11 x 17 pan.

  • 3 sticks butter
  • 3 cups sugar
  • 6 eggs
  • 1-1/2 cups flour
  • 1-1/2 cups cocoa
  • 1 Tbs. vanilla

Mix, pour into greased pan, top with chips or nuts or berries (if using berries make sure they are at room temperature, and dry). Bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes. Cut when cool, if you can wait that long. If you cut them small you can get 88 brownies.

 

Here’s the math for a single recipe. Bake in an 8″ x 8″ pan:

  • 1 sticks butter
  • 1 cups sugar
  • 2 eggs
  • 1/2 cups flour
  • 1/2 cups cocoa
  • 1 tsp. vanilla