So my detox has begun. It's nothing too strict - but it's based on mostly whole grains, lots and lots of farm fresh vegetables and lots and lots of fruit. I enjoy meat, but am trying to even keep that down where possible. I feel so much better already.
Dinner this week: sauteed zucchini, Trader Joe's Harvest Medley Grains, and a yummy garden salad with mixed greens, yellow tomatoes, kohlrabi, beets, carrots, red cabbage, bell peppers and cucumbers.
D-E-L-I-C-I-O-U-S!
Or, Oh Fudge!
Mmm - Brazilian chocolate fudge cake - Bolo de Brigadeiro.
That's a chocolate caramel goo that's flowing down the sides.
Why yes, those are Hannukah candles on top the birthday cake. OK - so you've NEVER run out of birthday candles?
It was a huge hit. Not a crumb remained. If you want to give it a try, here's the recipe.
Happy Birthday!
The summer produce is enough to make me smile all over. Check out this week's bounty from the farm.
Doesn't it look delicious? Just look - cabbage, kohlrabi, radishes, zucchini, yellow squash, bok choy, kale, collard greens, salad, cucumbers, salad turnips, beets, and even more greens than I can count. But did you get a look at those eggs? Look at the green eggs? Aren't they a hoot? Apparently they come from the Americana hen. I never knew that! I can't wait to taste them. This week I was late picking up my share, so there was plenty of unwanted to claim. I took several bunches of collard greens.
I love to chiffonade the collard greens (after washing them thoroughly and deveining each leaf). I then saute them in some olive oil where I have first sauteed either some diced onions or garlic. I add a little freshly ground salt and pepper and have a wonderful side dish with a rich, slightly bitter taste, that is high on the list of power foods. When they tell you that you're supposed to eat plenty of green leafy vegetables, this is what they're talking about people. Give it a try. I also put very finely diced bits of collard greens (or kale or kohlrabi greens) in the boys' food. I dice it so fine that it has the look and feel of fresh parsley. It's good for them and they really don't know they're eating a superfood!
Give it a try. If you're not accustomed to the taste, perhaps you'll try the "parsley replacement" method first.
Or, the Tale of a Short Order Cook
I really love being a Mom. I don't necessarily like being the last one to bed at night, or the first one up in the morning, but I love being a Mom. Today was one of those days that I really enjoyed, despite the fact that now I'm staring at a sink filled with dirty dishes.
I got Primogeniture up and since it's a big finals day - I made a hearty ham, egg, and cheese sandwich for him.
I got him off to school with a "Good luck on your test" and then started the process all over again with Secundogeniture.
He had other ideas about breakfast. "Can we have pancakes this morning?"
Sure - why not!?
So, I whipped up a batch of his favorite chocolate chip pancakes and managed to get him up and off to the bus driven to school before the first bell.
Ah, the life of Mom.
Now I'd better get started on the dishes or the bliss of motherhood will dissolve into a dose of reality.
I've always loved chicken and rice casseroles. If they weren't so 1970s, I'd probably still be making casseroles today. So I was thrilled when I created a family favorite chicken risotto - which is basically a chicken and rice casserole cooked in a saute pan on the stove top.
Chicken Risotto
3 tablespoons of olive oil
1/2 onion finely diced
2 chicken breasts, diced
1 teaspoon herbs de provence
salt and pepper to taste
2 cups brown arborio rice
5 cups chicken stock - heated
2 carrots finely sliced
1/4 cup finely minced greens (spinach, kale, collard greens, kohlrabi greens, etc). This is my trick for adding more green vegetables in the boys' diet. I mince the greens so as to appear as an herb. Works like magic!
1/2 cup frozen peas
1/3 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese
Directions:
Variations - I make risotto with peas and carrots so that my boys will eat it. Try different vegetables if your family is more adventuresome. It's also very good with asparagus, mushrooms, diced green beans, etc. The sky's the limit. Good luck! I hope your family likes it as much as mine.
It's May and many of the berries are beginning to hit their peak. We just love berries in our house and a big bowl like this one is almost always in the refrigerator.
Yummy.
OK - this picture was really posted to distract you from the fact that I don't have any new knitting to show. I'm working on another pair of socks, but nothing terribly exciting to share. Hang in there. There will be knitting pictures, soon.
My Mom had her favorite cookie from her town's little community cookbook. It probably only had 50 pages or so and was 8 1/2 x 5 1/5. One page on that cookbook was stained and well worn. It was the one with the recipe for Uncooked Cookies. These should have been labeled Unbaked Cookies... as they were actually cooked on the stove top. At Easter, Mom would add three small colorful jelly beans in the center and turn them into birds nests. While I was never a fan of jelly beans, I still love seeing these cookies (Russell Stover started selling a candy version shortly after my Mom began making them). They never fail to bring a smile to my face.
So if you're looking for a chocolatey, quick and easy holiday treat, give this one a try. Check out the recipe on my side bar HERE.
Happy Easter Mom. Thanks for all the great holiday memories.
I have a handful of family heirlooms that belonged to my ancestors that I treasure dearly. I can't say that my children will feel the same way, but I feel the generations of my family sending the love through these items - that have little monetary value, but are filled with sentimental value because they are built from the moments of everyday life.
Here's where it gets a little sketchy. I believe this well-loved rolling pin belonged to my Great Grandmother Lillie Thompson Wolfe. That would make sense... it would have come from my maternal Grandmother's mother. I can only imagine how many pies and breads have been made before me with this rolling pin... from Europe...to the Dakotas... to New York... New Jersey... and Connecticut. Today it gets used a few times a year to make sugar cookies. I think I should break it out now and again and try a new recipe that involves a rolling pin.
But here's a recipe to get you started. It's my Grandmother Lois' Pie Crust. She and my grandfather were farmers - so yes, it's made with lard, not shortening. She swore that lard was the only way to get a truly flaky crust.
Mix together and roll out for a single crust. *NOTE* Triple recipe for 2 double crust pies.
While I've never been much of a pie person, I have a few favorites. Of course, at Thanksgiving, there's only one pie I like - my Grandma Lois' Pecan Pie. I think I especially like it because of the note about the quantity of pecans one should use in this recipe.
Cream butter and brown sugar. Add beaten eggs, syrup, salt and vanilla. Beat well. Stir in pecans and then pour into pastry lined pie pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 50 minutes or until firm. Make 1 1/2 times these proportions for a 9" pie. This is even better if served with a topping of whipped cream.
(Found in a 1948 cookbook)
Fortunately, I collected family recipes in 1995, right after my mother died. I was only 28 and I realized "I don't have Mom's recipe for chili" so I'd call a brother or sister and ask. Then I wondered about my Grandmother's recipes. It just grew from there. I ended up writing to all my relatives asking for family recipes - new and old - and I was able to put down in writing many family favorites from my mother, brothers, sisters, aunts, uncles, cousins, grandmothers, and even some from my great grandmother! It is one of my go-to cookbooks -- and the source of most of my comfort food.
It is something I highly recommend everyone do -- collect these recipes while you can. Either photocopy the recipes or re-type them into a new family cookbook. Get everyone's input. You (and your extended family) will be so glad you did. Oh, and be sure to make extra copies for the next generation. You will definitely get requests for extra copies. Unfortunately, this edition is Out of Print. Maybe it's time to make a new family cookbook?
I hosted the Westport Young Woman's League Daytime Gourmet at my house for Mardi Gras. My job was cleaning the house, decorating and providing the beverages. The real stars of the show were the ladies who did all the amazing cooking.
We decorated with beads, gold, masks and more.
The napkin rings were green, gold and purple beads.
Even the money collection dish was decorated for the event.
Julie collected all the recipes and made little booklets for everyone to take away.
The Chicken and Sausage Jumbo was delicious, as were the crawfish cakes with crawfish cream, Classic Po'boys, Caesar Salad with Commander's Palace Salad Dressing, Bananas Foster, King Cake, oh, and Hurricane Punch.
Yes, we had not one, but two desserts.
It was a great luncheon and so much fun. Did I mention that these ladies were awesome chefs?
Yesterday, I found a brand new package of shredded coconut in the pantry from a dessert I didn't make. I think it was going to be a coconut frosted cake or something. But for some reason that coconut kept calling my name all day long. I was also craving chocolate, so naturally, cookies came to mind. That's when I remembered a cookie I made in my college days called "A Delicious Cookie" - so I pulled out my cookbook this morning and decided to give it a try.
I should have known when I saw a cup of butter AND a cup of oil. That's just wrong. But yet I forged ahead.
Needless to say, these cookies were much better in my memory than in reality (and yet, somehow, they did turn out how I remembered them?!). So I've saved myself the bother of having to eat these cookies as they are not tempting me at all. I should have stuck with a cake... perhaps even a German chocolate cake. Yummmm.
Change is Good
