Fresh start for a new year?  Let’s begin in the kitchen. This is the title of Mark Bittman’s article from early January.  I have to say that he has a lot of good advice and humor packed into this piece, and I recommend that you give it a look.  He caught me right away, because he started out with spinning my fantasy life: shopping daily in my small Umbrian village, while my reality is trying to put quick and delicious dinners on the table that satisfy many different tastes 

While I would take issue with Mark over tomato paste and canned beans, otherwise I think he’s pretty much spot on.  Now, where did I leave my map to Italy?

Image: StockXchng

Post from: Blisstree

Fresh start for a new year

Have you ever wondered what the future holds for kitchen design?  Now you can find out by checking out just a few of the available videos on YouTube

Kitchens of the Future, part one

Kitchens of the Future, part two

Image: WikimediaCommons

Post from: Blisstree

Kitchens of the future

What’s a person to do when faced with the dizzying array of “fresh” fruits and vegetables in the modern grocery store? Strawberries are now available in the middle of winter, but they also usually taste like cardboard at that time of the year! I’ve had to think through my buying habits very carefully in the last few years, since I spend most of my time and money in the produce aisle

I love to buy organic if possible, especially if it’s an item with thin skin, or an item that I know from previous experience is far superior in taste to the non-organic varieties (like oranges). But organic is not the be-all and end-all of making choices. Some organic growers are huge agribusinesses that are only one step better than non-organic growers. They may not be spraying, but they are just as likely to be depleting the soil and shipping produce long distances.

Sometimes, buying local produce is the better choice, even if the farm is not certified organic. Fresh produce, in season, locally grown…especially if it’s grown on smaller independent farms…may end up being your best choice. Get to know your local farmers and farmstands. Find out what local farms supply your local grocery store.

That means we also have to know what actually is in season! We’ve lost our sense of the seasons over the last decade. Even though it’s probably neither possible nor convenient to eat local, organic, in-season food 100% of the time, most of us could do a lot better job if we simply went back to basics and paid attention!

So here’s my list of what’s available in my neck of the woods. Please feel free to leave more suggestions in the comments, particularly if there are food items available in your local region that I didn’t mention.

Here’s a link to a page with links to many spring recipes using these ingredients. I’ll be adding to it and creating new lists for each season. You can always find this page in the sidebar: What’s in season now?

Winter:

Halibut, lobster, mussels, scallops
Goose, other fowl
Beets, cabbage, cauliflower, celery, chestnuts, kale, kohlrabi, leeks, parsnips, potatoes, rutabaga, shallots, spinach, turnips

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What’s in season now? Winter

From now to the end of the year, you and your readers can visit Your Family Table to share your small changes and Country Crock Omega Plus will donate a meal to a family through Feeding America (formerly America’s Second Harvest). It’s a free and easy way to help those in need this holiday season.

In addition, you can feed your own family with some of Amy Grant’s favorite holiday recipes using Country Crock, including Savory Cranberry Sauce (see recipe below).

Our nation’s food banks are receiving more requests than ever before, so even the smallest effort can mean a big deal to a family in need.

Savory Cranberry Sauce

Prep Time: 10 minutes – Cook Time: 20 minutes – Yield: 8 servings

Ingredients:
1/4 cup Shedd’s Spread Country Crock® Omega Plus Light Spread
2 shallots or 1 small onion, peeled and chopped
1 bag (12 oz.) cranberries
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup orange juice
1 cup chopped walnuts, toasted
1/2 tsp. grated orange peel

Directions:
In a 2-quart saucepan, melt Shedd’s Spread Country Crock® Omega Plus Light Spread over medium heat and cook shallots, stirring occasionally, 6 minutes or until very tender. Stir in cranberries, sugar and orange juice. Bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce heat to low and simmer, stirring occasionally, 12 minutes or until most of the berries burst; cool 10 minutes. Stir in remaining ingredients and serve warm or cool completely.

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Your Family Table

And I have to say that most of the trends they spot seem like a pretty good bet to me. Epicurious is predicting trends towards more family-friendly, green, thrifty, and just plain old more practical! Especially for busy families who really have no idea what Molecular Gastronomy is, or why they should care

Read the Epicurious predictions

Check this particular prediction out, and then read my next post!

5. Ginger is the new Mint
Move over, mojitos. Ginger beers and ginger cocktails (like the Ginger Rogers, Gin Gin Mule, and Ginger Smash) are bubbling up at places like The Violet Hour in Chicago, the Clock Bar in San Francisco, and Matsugen in New York.

Post from: Blisstree

Epicurious predicts the top 10 food trends of 2009

Jenna Pepper, at Food with Kid Appeal, told me about a poll she did recently on her blog. The results were not exactly what I would have expected. Jenna wrote,

I posted it a couple weeks ago after running a poll on the site about what parent’s biggest concerns were of feeding the family. Options were

Eats too many snacks

Doesn’t eat enough

Eats too much

Only eats a few items

I don’t know why, but I would have expected snacking too much to be the biggest concern, but instead, Jenna found that her readers were more concerned about the lack of variety in their children’s diets.

So Jenna decided to write some tips for how to solve that!    Here are her ten suggestions:

10. Give them time. A finicky toddler still has many years of restaurant meals, holiday food traditions and travel excursions to sample new flavors. He may only eat 10 fruits/veggies now, but that will grow with exposure.

9. Take them shopping. A farmer’s market would be great, but a grocery store works too. Let them pick out a vegetable or fruit. Get them to pick one they already like and one new one. If you don’t know how to eat the new thing, google a recipe.

Read the rest!

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Ten ways to get kids to eat new foods

With the economy the way it is, Bank of America and their “Keep the Change” program have teamed up with Ted Allen to help folks save a little change as we prepare for the feasts ahead. Take a look at some of Ted’s hot tips below:

• Use food and other natural items for your centerpiece. Rather than buying flowers, there’s nothing prettier than a big bowl of lemons, apples, or other fruits and veggies. Other great ideas for table decoration are branches and autumn leaves, right from your own yard.

• Save on soda and bottled water. Save attractive glass bottles from wine and gourmet juices in the weeks before the holidays. Fill them with filtered water and chill the day before dinner. Add lemon, lime or orange slices for a gourmet kick. (Depending on your weather, chill them in the garage—thus conserving precious fridge space).

• Save while you spend. Use coupons, look for sales and 2-for-1 specials or sign up for a savings program like Keep the Change® from Bank of America. For every purchase you make with your Keep the Change check card, Bank of America rounds up the purchase to the nearest dollar and transfers the difference from your checking to your savings account.

• Go potluck! Share the cost of a big meal by delegating drinks and dishes to friends and family (just remember to reserve some oven space for reheating!)

• Re-use your disposable pie tins. Disposable aluminum pie tins are great to use after the first time. Wash and store them for future baking or use them as storage for extra leftover (instead of giving away your precious Tupperware).

Image: Stock.xchng

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Ted Allen’s “Green & Thrifty Holiday Tips”

Leslie used her Mom’s picture for the invitation!

I have been part of a gourmet lunch group for 12 years and we are all great friends and have basically been together through raising kids and taking care of parents and we clearly have nothing to prove in the cooking department! We have impressed the socks off each other for YEARS! This year I suggested that we just make something our mother’s made that we loved as kids. This idea has been the greatest because our mothers were having tons of fun and kept it simple. I served artichoke dip that had exactly 5 ingredients, that crab dip that is canned crabmeat over cream cheese and cocktail sauce and a cheese ball as appetizers and we all laughed because our mothers all made that stuff! I served Chicken Divan made with cream of chicken condensed can soup and minute rice and an apple pie for dessert. So easy, straight forward and familiar! I can’t wait to see what everyone else does! The best part is that we talked about our mom’s and families and learned new things, even after 12 years of lunches!

Image: Leslie McKee

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A new twist on Gourmet Lunch Groups

Chicken Stew (excerpt from my book, Mothering Mother: A Daughter’s Humorous and Heartbreaking Memoir)

I’m making chicken stew tonight. I need something homey, for the house to smell inviting. Maybe my mother, who has Parkinson’s and isn’t doing well, will take a few sips. I put the chicken breasts, chopped onion, and garlic in Mother’s cast iron stew pot that was probably her mother’s. I throw in salt, a pinch of sugar, fresh oregano and sage. It’s just like she taught me. I crack the lid and let the mixture come to a boil. It simmers for three hours, filling the place with memories. I do the laundry, sit with Mother, fold clothes, read Mother the twenty-third Psalm, make a few phones calls, waiting to feed her, hoping she’ll rouse.

The aromas of onion and garlic grow richer, blending and merging. I chop carrots into very small pieces and a little bit of celery—not a lot. I put them into the broth then sit with Mother again. She wakes up and I lift her head to feed her the Parkinson’s medication ground in applesauce.

I go back to the kitchen and lift the chicken pieces out of the boiler with a ladle and spread them out on Mother’s cutting board, the one with a rooster painted on the backside. I sit with Mother while they cool, then chop the breasts and scrape them into the broth, and add a little butter and watch it melt into the stock, leaving round circles floating between bits of celery leaves, orange carrots and glossy garlic. I fill a large cup with milk, a little salt and pepper, and three generous spoons of self-rising flour, then whisk it pour it into the soup. The broth turns from translucent amber to golden cream. I mash a few clumps of flour with the side of a fork, then turn it down low and go back to Mother’s side. I shake in some ground sage and just a little tarragon. The spices mingle and fill the air.

I take a sip of the soup. It’s good. Childhood memory good. How many times was I or Daddy sick and she’d make this simple stew? I think of adding more spices but decide not to. If Mother’s going to have any, it needs to be mild. She told me this morning that she dreamed she was going to the courthouse to marry Daddy. I help her sit up in the bed, drape a towel across her and offer a spoon of stew.

I hope when her eyes are closed she sees herself young, long-legged, and just beginning to live.

Post from: Blisstree

Chicken Stew

The Story of Yvonne’s Meatloaf

My mom’s meatloaf was spectacular and a family fave. I used to urge her to serve it to company, and when she protested that meatloaf wasn’t a company dish, I couldn’t understand it. Why not? There was surely nothing better than my mom’s meatloaf! My childhood best friend, Donald, begged to be invited over when it was meatloaf night…or if he was invited over in advance for a particular evening, he begged my mother to make meatloaf that night.

Later, as an adult, as I became a bit more proficient as a cook, I copied my mother’s recipe (this was quite a lot of years ago) and attempted to make her meatloaf myself. It was a dismal failure. Though I followed the directions explicitly, the results bore little resemblance to my mother’s meatloaf. I think I tried a second time before throwing out the recipe in despair and telling my mother, “Well, you’ll always know what you can do when you want to give me a treat: Make me a meatloaf. No one can make them like you can.” And for many years thereafter, my mother would treat me from time to time either by having me over for a meatloaf dinner or by making TWO meatloaves when she planned a meatloaf dinner for herself and my stepdad…and giving the second meatloaf to me.

When my mom died (five years ago), I not only mourned her terribly but mourned the prospect of no more meatloaf. Very shortly after her death, I went to her condo and raided her kitchen, intent on claiming her trove of recipes for myself. My stepdad, no cook, surely wouldn’t want her recipe file. But I was too late. Not only didn’t he want them, he had already thrown them all out! Gone was her treasured file of recipes…including the famed meatloaf recipe. I despaired.

So did my daughter. She, too, wanted to get her hands on “Grandma’s” recipe file…and most especially that meatloaf recipe. In Laurel’s growing-up years, a visit to Grandma (my mother) always included a meatloaf, as Laurel loved my mom’s meatloaf just as did everyone else who ate it. And even after Laurel was grown, though she had not got her hands on the recipe
nor tried to cook Yvonne’s meatloaf, she relished her visits to her grandparents not only for the pleasure of being with them but because inevitably my mom would make a meatloaf.

Totally unwilling to resign myself to never having my mother’s meatloaf again, I determined to recreate the recipe. I had had it once. And I had sat in the kitchen with my mother quite a few times while she made the meatloaf, even though I hadn’t been consciously studying what she did. Let me see…I think she used a pound of meat…and I remember that she used chuck…at one point, in the name of being health-conscious, she had switched to round but
complained to me that the flavor wasn’t the same and that she was going back to using chuck…and I knew there was tomato juice–not tomato sauce nor ketchup either, but tomato juice…and herbs were VERY important…and garlic, which I recalled she put through a garlic crusher…and fresh white bread, torn up by hand into crumbs…. Bit by bit I reconstructed the recipe in my head, wrote down trial amounts, assembled the ingredients, used what seemed the right amounts and adjusted what I’d written down, decided on three herbs that I thought would be best…formed the loaf, remembering that it was not to be packed tightly together, and put it in the oven while figuratively holding my breath.

My mother’s spirit must have been guiding my hand. The meatloaf came out perfect, an absolute duplicate of Yvonne’s meatloaf on her best days (she too had had occasions when the meatloaf didn’t come out quite as good as it might have) – and I exultantly reported to my daughter, “I’ve re-created Grandma’s meatloaf – I have the recipe!!” I copied it over for
Laurel, and now she and I both make my mother’s meatloaf – flawlessly – just like Yvonne used to. We may have lost her, but we still have her meatloaf – and the memories that go with it.

Post from: Blisstree

The story of Yvonne’s meatloaf