Cinco de Mayo, which celebrates Mexico’s victory over France at the Battle of Puebla, might have gotten out of hand once in a while in U.S. celebrations. A margarita or two many (sic) along with endless bowls of tortilla chips and salsa sounds great in the short run, but not in the long. Why not skip the tequila hangover (it is, after all, a work night) and invite a few friends over for my chicken and green chili with cheese grits– a supper full of freshly layered happiness? Continue reading
If I had to come up with a cooking mantra from friends, family, students, and neighbors, it could very well be,
I just don’t have time to cook.
Sometimes that makes sense to me. Like I’m in the middle of cleaning out closets, in a frenzied rush to pack and leave for a trip, or between a deadline, picking someone up from the airport, and a trip to the movies. Ok, I’ll have some cheese and crackers. Tuna out of a can. Slice an apple.
But when I take this little meme and run with it, I come away with the knowledge that includes visions of lives running and running on empty or on the fast track without a centered vision of what it means to live in a home. Kind of like we run around a lot because we can. We watch cooking on tv, talk “Chopped” with our spouses, and then refuse to grocery shop because it takes too much time. Don’t set the table and, instead, eat standing up dropping cracker crumbs in the sink.
Do we really have so much to do that we don’t want to feed ourselves well and healthily? It’s a question for which there’s no answer. Work triumphs. Health and emotional well-being suffers. Soccer, tv, and the computer win. Laughter, easy talk, difficult conversations, and connections around the table are lessened. Rather sad. Continue reading
I may have enjoyed my Christmas a little too much. Maybe you did, too? Even so, there’s still time to add to that merriment because…
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This is for mornings when you know the evening is bringing way too many calories and you’re hungry NOW. Or for nights when you have some green beans left that aren’t enough for a real meal or to share for dinner. Maybe it’ll do for that special time when your dogs are clamoring for egg yolks, as do mine on a regular basis. Especially when they’ve worked up a big appetite barking at the awesome buck in the front yard. Yes, this fellow was in our yard the other day. We have a herd of does that spends a lot of time in our neighborhood, but a huge buck isn’t quite such a regular visitor. I wish I’d gotten a better photo. You can imagine I couldn’t open the door to take the picture or the dogs would have been out in a flash. And bucks don’t always like dogs. (This was a much more pleasant animal experience than the encounter with the stinky dead mouse hiding between two blouses in my laundry room yesterday. True story.) Continue reading
EASY FRENCH 3-COURSE MEAL FOR VALENTINE’S DAY AT HOME: 2-HOUR COOKING CLASS @ SHOUSE APPLIANCE THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 5: 5-7PM. INTRODUCTORY OFFER 2 FOR 1. $50.00 for two students–includes food, recipes and ideas for wine pairing. To sign up: Message me on fb if we’re friended, email me, or leave your email or phone in a comment at the end of the blog and I’ll get back to you. (Menu: Carrot Soup with Fresh Herbs, Chicken Fricassee, Chocolate Mousse.) Class limited to 6 students. I’ll repeat this class at home if needed to accommodate more students. Can’t wait to cook and eat with you!
Next week, I’ll be attending a DACOR training session (I work as a chef for them twice a month and demonstrate their products) and of course I’ll feed the team that morning so our brains will absorb the information a bit more quickly. Who doesn’t learn better with eggs, bacon, and cinnamon rolls? I’ll throw in a beautiful bowl of chopped fruit and we’ll have coffee from the built-in coffee system that makes on-demand espresso faster than you can say, “Just sugar, please.” I do lust after that coffee machine, I’ll be honest. Recently a customer bought their second one for the family room in their basement. We do have an electric kettle in the basement. Somehow it just isn’t the same. Hmph. If you’re at home, add a spicy Bloody Mary or a sweet Mimosa along side the coffee. Continue reading
I’m a girl who likes her breakfast hot. Except when I don’t. And then I want Greek yogurt and fresh fruit with my homemade granola.
After Easter there is a plethora of goodies in the refrigerator. The blessings of not only having enough to eat, but more than enough (witness my weight problem and perhaps yours, too)… are beautiful if sometimes embarrassing. “An embarrassment of riches” is what it’s called, I think. Others might use the pejorative meme, “First world problems.” I choose to be grateful, but careful. Full of breath, but conservative in the best sense of the word. In a country where 30- 40% of our food is discarded, but
48.8 million Americans—including 16.2 million children— live in households that lack the means to get enough nutritious food on a regular basis. As a result, they struggle with hunger at some time during the year.
(No Kid Hungry dot org)
you can see why a food blogger would think twice before cooking, eating, or posting anything at all. There are moments I’m shifty-eyed and clench-jawed just thinking of recipes that discuss things like the quality of certain cheeses or chocolates that easily set one back $25 a pound. Add in to this mix the concepts revolving around our fascination with being thin (witness the folks in magazines or on tv) and a faithful, earth-loving person begins to be more than confused. Continue reading
You perhaps look in the fridge on a regular basis and wonder how to use a certain leftover. I mean, we try hard to be conservative with the food we buy or make — waste not, want not. Some things are easy–pizza, for instance. I like it just heated up, but I also like to take the toppings off a piece that has seen better days and use them with pasta or in an omelet. Ham’s another. Grind it for ham salad, make a sandwich, bean soup, or a chef salad. But mashed potatoes sometimes get me. I mean, I make gorgeous potato cakes, totally crispy in their hot butter. But there weren’t enough for potato cakes for all of us. If I had only thought of it, I could have thrown them in my potato soup last night. But I didn’t. Think, that is. There were just enough mashed potatoes for me. (Actually it was colcannon — potatoes mashed with kale or cabbage-that I made with salmon the other day.) And I wanted them for breakfast. Why not? You could be perfectly happy with these for lunch or dinner, too; after all, what are leftovers for?
Think of your eggs, desperate for you to try something new with them, next time you bring a scoop of mashed potatoes home from a too-big restaurant dinner:
mashed potato eggs — breakfast, lunch, or dinner serves 2
You’ll make one serving at a time. Keep one warm in the oven while you make the other.
Heat 1 teaspoon butter in an 8-inch non-stick skillet over medium heat. Add 2 tablespoons milk and let warm. Press 1 cup mashed potatoes into the pan and heat until hot and beginning to crisp underneath.
Push potatoes to the edges of the pan, leaving about a 4-inch diameter space at the center. Crack two eggs, side by side, into the space and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Cover, lower heat a little, and cook until the eggs are done to your liking –about two minutes for runny, sunny side up. Lift the whites a time or two to let the uncooked portions fall back into the pan.
Slide a large rubber spatula under the potatoes and eggs to loosen and slide the breakfast onto a plate. Garnish with salsa or chopped parsley or scallions. Serve hot.
Repeat for second serving.
Cook’s Notes: If you like scrambled eggs, just beat your eggs together in a small bowl before pouring into the center of the pan.
Just for fun, I thought I’d share a photo of my Irish Soda Bread from last night. Instead of baking it in a heavy glass round dish, I baked it free-form and was much happier with the results. It was scrumptious. We invited our neighbor, Mary Pat, over for a serve-yourself potato soup and bread supper eaten in front of the tv so we could watch John Wayne and Maureen O’Hara in “The Quiet Man” for a family-style Saint Patrick’s Day celebration. We didn’t eat all of the bread, but almost.
KITCHEN CHANGES:
This may be the last time I look at my kitchen in exactly the same way. Dave and I have finally decided to commit to a kitchen re-do, though we’re not sure what it will mean for us. Our first choice is to move our kitchen entirely to the sunroom so that we have a room that is twice as big and has windows! If that proves unfeasible, we’ll revert to updating the footprint we currently have, albeit with a few changes. What we have is a one-butt galley kitchen that also serves as the hallway to the deck and the garage — read that how everyone gets in and out, including all of the dogs. You see what I’m talking about.
The designer arrives today and will take more pictures (she has some), look at my likes and dislikes notes on houzz.com, measure the two rooms, and give us a couple of design choices and price points. I would love for this to be done in time for our 40th anniversary, which is 14 July. What do you think? It could happen! As I write and wait for her, the wind whips between 50 and 60 miles per hour. On my phone are dust storm warnings for today : DO NOT TRAVEL! it says. We’ve also had bouts of swirling dervish snow squalls. To the north are white-out conditions on the interstate. Yesterday afternoon, I drank my tea out on the front porch in the 70 degree F sun.
Miss Gab and Tucker with Blue, one of our two grand dogs staying with us just now. Though Blue often looks hangdog, she is loving, caring, sweet, and quite a watch dog.
Sing a new song,
Alyce
Click here to donate to the World Food Programme for Philippine Relief
Hunger, it is said, “is the best sauce.” Pancakes outside cooked on a Coleman stove after a long hike. A pot of stew in the slow cooker waiting at home while you’re at work. Anytime you “could have eaten a horse.”
The other day Dave emerged from his tiny, temporary office (my old study) after a #$5*@!) morning and said, “I’m hungry; what’s for lunch?” While he’s perfectly happy to get his own meals (peanut butter and crackers eaten over the sink in 5 minutes is a favorite), he’ll take more of a break if I fix anything at all. If I’m cooking, I often cook early and he’s lucky enough to get some of it. That day, I wasn’t cooking; I was cleaning and unpacking one more box or ten. Still, I was hungry, too. A quick search of the fridge allowed that there were indeed eggs along with some leftover tomatoes, cooked red potatoes, and a big box of crispy, peppery arugula. I didn’t know what I’d make exactly, but I began with a large skillet with olive oil and onions…. Continue reading