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Welcome potluck season with Lemon-Ginger Coleslaw

Tonight is the first of the summer potluck picnics. Joe’s class is having a hot dog barbecue and the parents are bringing side dishes. With an international group of families there is always a terrific showing of dishes at these gatherings, so I decided to liven up an American classic with my version of coleslaw.

Lemon-Ginger Coleslaw

  • 1 medium head green cabbage
  • 1 stalk celery
  • 4 green onions
  • 3 carrots
  • 1-1/4 c. mayonaise
  • the juice of 1-1/2 lemons
  • 1 2″ piece of fresh ginger, grated
  • 3 Tbs. sugar
  • 1/2 tsp. salt, or to taste
  • 2 navel oranges, cut into chunks
  • 1 can pineapple tidbits, drained
  • 3/4 c. raisins
  • 3/4 c. slivered almonds, toasted

Slice cabbage, celery and green onions very thin and grate the carrots. Mix together the mayonnaise, lemon juice, ginger, sugar and salt, then combine everything together. Serve very cold.

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Recital cookies follow-up

Cream Cheese cookies on our blackboard plate. The notes were chalked on this morning.

This morning, before the house got hot, I baked a second batch of the Cream Cheese Cookies to take to the piano recital. This time I followed the recipe. My panel of tasters agreed that these are much better than last night’s batch, so I encourage you to indulge in the butter fat and follow the recipe as written. These are much lighter, taller and delicate than the version with only half of the butter.

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Welcoming summer weather with a platter full of Chef’s Salad

Ninety degree weather descended upon us today, forcing me to quickly dust off our favorite hot weather, no-cook supper ideas. A chef’s salad, served up beautifully on our Thanksgiving turkey platter, made a great presentation and a fun dinner with something for everyone. Start with a bed of mixed organic greens and top with your family’s favorite deli meats, cheeses, hard boiled eggs, cold cooked shrimp, and plenty of raw vegetables. (Sorry, but this is so not Kosher.)

We had ours with Macey’s favorite Thousand Island dressing, and a bowl of fresh, sliced cantaloupe.

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Fancy goodies for Joe’s piano recital: Cream Cheese Cookies

Joe’s piano recital is tomorrow and I want to take something a little bit fancy, not so sugary, in an attempt to broaden the palette of the young musicians. (Or at the very least to give the parents something interesting to eat.) These cookies have no sugar or eggs in the dough, sweetened only with a dollop of jam and a dusting of powdered sugar.

I love Joe’s piano recital. It is a very sweet event, held on a grand piano in a church sanctuary, lovingly run by Mrs. Todd and her family. First the really little kids play their pieces, with Mrs. Todd helping them make things even more musical by accompanying them on a duet. Then the older kids play their pieces solo. After wards, the Todd family has a reception with punch and treats donated by parents.

I botched this recipe tonight, but I’m posting the finished product because they still tasted pretty good. My teenagers like them! I left out half of the butter, so if you’re interested in a flaky little, not-too-sweet cookie with not quite so much butter fat, then you can do as I did.

Tomorrow morning I’ll make a new batch using the correct recipe (below), so that I can properly spoil the young musicians.

Cream Cheese Cookies

  • 1 8-oz package of cream cheese
  • 2 sticks butter
  • 2-1/2 c. flour

Cream the cream cheese and butter, then slowly mix in the flour. Knead for a moment to make a smooth ball, and then refrigerate for an hour or so. Roll out about 1/3″ thick in some powdered sugar. Cut into shapes and dent the middle with something round like the back of a wooden spoon, or your thumb. You can dip the spoon end into a little powdered sugar if it sticks. Pipe or spoon in a small dollop of thick jam. Bake at 400 degrees for 12-15 minutes or until lightly brown. Dust with powdered sugar when cool.

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Rainbow Butter Cake

Three colors of batter—what’s not to love?

After I volunteered to make a favorite little friend a birthday cake, I, who love color and art in my food, was told that he prefers white cake with white icing. Rainbow Butter Cake has saved the day—what 11 year-old boy wouldn’t like a multi-colored version of a white cake?

I found this in one of my mother’s favorite’s, the 1961 edition of The New Antoinette Pope School Cookbook:

Rainbow Butter Cake

  • 1-1/2 c. butter (room temp.)
  • 2-1/4 c. sugar
  • 4 large eggs (room temp.)
  • 1-1/2 tsp. lemon zest
  • 1 tsp. vanilla
  • 5-1/2 c. sifted cake flour
  • 4-1/2 tsp. baking powder
  • 1 c. + 2 Tbs. milk

Cream butter and sugar well. Add eggs, one at a time, and beat for several minutes. Add extracts, then flour sifted with baking powder, about 1 cup at a time, alternately with milk, beating after each addition only until smooth.

To 3-1/2 c. batter add red food coloring, to 2-3/4 c. add green coloring, to remainder (2-1/4 c.) add yellow coloring.

Grease and flour a 10 x 4 tube pan with a removable bottom. First pour in pink batter carefully with a spoon and spread it gently; then with spoon pour in green batter, and lastly yellow batter.

Bake in preheated 325 degree oven for 1 hour; then about 20 minutes more at 375 degrees or until done.

The first time I tried this cake I cut it into layers—this was a mistake. The cake crumbled. Keep it whole until it’s time to slice!

First spoon in the red batter and top with the green batter.

Lastly, top the green batter with the yellow batter.

A slice through the cake—layer 1.

A slice through the cake—layer 2.

Fresh Strawberry or Raspberry Fluff Icing

This is the freshest, lightest, truly amazing icing. It beats up like a meringue.

  • 1 c. fresh strawberries
  • 1-1/4 c. granulated sugar
  • 1 egg white
  • 1/8 tsp. salt
  • a few drops red food coloring

Beat all together at high speed until light and quite stiff, about 5-10 minutes.

Garnish with fresh berries.

 

Joe on his 14th birthday, ready to enjoy his cake.

 

 

 

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Chicken Parmesan served on a bed of Garlic Linguini

This was exceptionally delicious, and quick and simple to prepare.

Chicken Parmesan

  • 6 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
  • 1 egg, lightly beaten
  • bread crumbs or Panko crumbs, Italian style
  • 1 jar marinara sauce
  • 6 slices mozzarella cheese
  • 1/2 c. Parmesan cheese
  • Fresh basil leaves or parsley (optional)

Dip the chicken in the egg, coat in the bread crumbs and saute in olive oil until brown, then turn and brown the other side. Pour about 1 cup of sauce to cover the bottom of a 13″ x 9″ pan. Place the chicken on top of the sauce. Top each breast with 1 slice of cheese. Spoon on the remainder of the sauce, and garnish with fresh basil and/or parsley, if you like. Bake at 375 degrees for 20 minutes.

Garlic Linguine

  • 1 pound linguine
  • 2 cloves garlic, minced
  • 3 Tbs. butter, or a combination of butter and olive oil
  • 1/2 tsp. salt (or to taste)
  • a little chopped parsley

Cook the linguine al dente. Drain. Add butter and/or oil to pan, add garlic, then toss in the drained pasta and finally the parsley. Serve in a heated bowl.

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Six Pies

This free-form leaf motif top crust is my antidote to a lattice top. Shown here on a rhubarb-custard pie. Custard pies don't freeze well, so we ate this one while still warm.

There aren’t many things that get me as excited as when someone brings me a bag of fresh seasonal fruit. Just consider the possibilities! Jam, conserve, chutney, crisp, crumble, marmalade, muffins, pie? So when 26 cups of rhubarb found its way into my kitchen this morning (thank you, Lori Day), I eliminated the other options, and all I could think about was pies.

This traditional strawberry rhubarb pie is headed to the freezer.

Try different shapes to decorate the top of the pie. Just lay them over the filling before placing the pie in the oven.

A fluted wheel cutter easily creates leaf shapes.

Why stick with round? This double-recipe pie was made in a 13" x 9" pan, and is for an event at the Shavuot Confirmation service at Temple. The ten commandments is the theme for the confirmation class's speeches.

Strawberry-Rhubarb Custard Pie

  • 3 eggs
  • 3 Tbs. milk
  • 1/4 c. flour
  • 1/2 tsp. salt
  • 1-3/4 c. sugar
  • 2 c. chopped rhubarb
  • 2 c. sliced strawberries
  • pastry for a 2-crust pie

Mix together egg and milk, stir in dry ingredients, and then stir in strawberries and rhubarb. Pour into pie crust, top with second crust in either a lattice-style or a covered top crust with vent holes. Bake at 400 degrees for 50-60 minutes, until crust is browned and the filling is set.

Liz’s Lemony Strawberry-Rhubarb Pie

  • 1/4 c. flour
  • 1-1/4 c. sugar
  • zest of 1/2 lemon
  • 3 c. chopped rhubarb
  • 2 c. sliced strawberries

Mix together flour and sugar, then toss with lemon zest and fruit. Pour into pie crust, top with second crust in either a lattice-style or a covered top crust with vent holes. Bake at 400 degrees for about 40-50 minutes, or until crust is brown and the pie is bubbly.

Pastry for a 2-crust pie

  • 1-3/4 c. white flour
  • 1/2 c. whole wheat flour
  • 1/2 tsp. salt
  • 2/3 c. shortening (can use half Crisco and half butter)
  • 1/2 cold water

By the way, in case you’ve been keeping track, pie #6 wasn’t very photogenic. We’ll eat that one tomorrow.

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Boundary Water biscuits: the time I took Doug camping.

 

I learned a lot from Doug on this camping trip. Who knew that one could bake in a camp fire?

 

One of our first dates was a week-long trip to the Boundary Waters in upper Minnesota. By then we had a pretty good idea that we liked each other, but this was still an important step in our courtship. This would be my fourth trip to the wilderness canoe area, and I wanted to impress Doug with my mastery of all things outdoors: handling a canoe, putting a worm on a hook, starting a fire with one match, reading a wilderness map—I wanted to take him camping. It’s hard to clearly remember, but I don’t think I had yet grasped the depth of Doug’s mastery of the outdoors. Here was a man who, aside from being an Eagle Scout, had been a back country guide in New Mexico, a white-water canoe guide in Maine, had run Colorado’s rivers as a rafting guide, had earned his EMT in his spare time so that he’d feel better prepared during rock climbing emergencies, and possessed copies of his mother’s best recipes.

We had an idyllic week. Mysteriously, there were no black flies or mosquitoes. On one golden evening as we sat on a rock edge over looking the water, watching the sunset, the sky became darker and we were captivated with the brilliance of the Northern lights. Really, it was magical.

As for showing off my mastery of the outdoors, I gave up map duty on day one after getting us quite lost. Only by asking some fisherman did we find out that we were in the lake named, aptly, Lake of Confusion. Yet, I was a good sport in the middle of a down pour and impressed Doug by saying how fun it was. I made a passable camp fire, and was able to successfully feign indifference while putting a worm on a hook.

However, nothing could compare to Doug’s expertise with camp-cooking. He nursed the fire until the coals were evenly hot, mixed up some brownie batter from a homemade, dry mix we had concocted in his apartment in Chicago, then poured it into an aluminum pan which he then placed inside a dutch oven. Doug then buried the entire thing in the coals, creating a campfire baking oven. What a delicacy to have fresh, hot brownies on a wilderness trip!

And on one chilly morning, once again I was amazed by Doug’s camp-cooking ability. Using the dutch oven, he baked up some of his mom’s flaky biscuits.

I guess we each passed each other’s wilderness test. This morning, over 20 years later, using our regular stove, Doug mixed up a batch of biscuits in our kitchen. If you ask any of our kids, they’ll tell you, “Dad makes the best biscuits.”

 

Doug had everything covered: brownies in the oven; coffee on top.

 

 

Doug and Dori, Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, Minnesota, August 1989.

 

 

Here's a picture of the brownies, just coming out of the camp fire. (I was taking pictures of food, 20 years ago, while camping?)

 

Dorothy’s Soft Crumb Biscuits

  • 2 c. flour (Doug uses 1/3 whole wheat flour)
  • 1 Tbs. baking powder
  • 1 tsp. salt
  • 5 Tbs. shortening (Crisco)
  • 2/3-3/4 c. milk

Cut shortening into dry ingredients. Add milk all at once. Stir until just mixed. Turn out onto floured board. Knead about 20 times. Pat out on a floured board, about 3/4″ thick. Cut and bake at 450 degrees for 12-15 mins. Makes 12-14 biscuits.

 

You can see how flaky these are.

 

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Soaking beans

You know all of those plastic bags, each with just a little bit of beans in them, tucked into a corner of your pantry? Today I decided to mix them all together, put them up to soak, and invite them for dinner.

I used the quick-soak method: boil for 5 minutes, let rest for 1 hour, drain, refill with water and then cook for a couple more hours. After I refill the pot with water (covering the beans with about three inches), I’ll add a couple of cloves of garlic, a bay leaf and some salt. When the beans are cooked just right, and not overly soft, I’ll add a can of chopped tomatoes, a little oregano, a dash or two of cayenne, and some more garlic. We’ll eat this with some rice, some fresh tortillas, and some stir-fried vegetables.