Menus, July 15, 2014

" What is life, if not a marathon of love?
” 

Jarod Kintz

I am only one degree of separation away from being a marathon runner. Which is to say,  I know a few marathon runners. And I am only two degrees away from being a World Cup soccer player. Which is to say,  have watched World Cup soccer matches on at least 2 televisions. So I am only zero degrees away from knowing a thing or two about overtime.
All sorts of overtimes
There's the  resigned shrug of the shoulders that comes when the job's not done, but well...

Time's Over

There's the kind of over time that requires the slow and steady doing of one thing over a very long time; a long, determined effort that over time produces something

that speedy just can't

And then there's the World Cup, world-weary kind of overtime that comes at the end of regular play, or regular play. The kind of overtime that happens when you get to the day's end, and find out that you're not nearly finished,

even though you feel absolutely finished.

So, what do you do when the day's been two grueling halves of nonstop running, half-time was a long-ago rushed lunch, and you're facing overtime with the possibility of sudden death?

Well, you could do your best imitation of a world class athlete
who's just run 7 miles in 90 minutes,

or you could do your best imitation of a world class athlete
who's just run 7 miles in 90 minutes.

Sure, you could bring in burgers call up for a pizza or call out for Chinese, and that can work for who-knows-how long, but after awhile, either your body or your budget are going to tell you 

It's time to stop phoning it in.

Or you could jump in the car and head to your favorite bookstore for a new cookbook filled with 15 minute recipes, or spend 20 minutes sifting through those magazine and newspaper articles you've saved for that quick-dinner idea you remembered telling your friend about just the other day...
Or, you could do what you want to do anyway. Sit down.
And, since you're sitting, why not ask the internet for a few fifteen minute dinner ideas? Healthy, inexpensive stuff that you can have on a plate in the time it takes to decide which take out menu to order from.
Stuff sort of like this:

Friday: Chili Lime Salmon

Marinated salmon gets thrown on the grill.(Or in a pan, or under the broiler..) There's your quick and awesome protein. With an extra two minutes, you can brush that marinade on to some zucchini halves or asparagus spears and you've got veg. Throw a bowl of instant brown rice in the microwave for a carb and you've got a healthy dinner in less than 20 minutes. Score.





Saturday:Grilled Marinated Leg of Lamb 

Here's the week's only real work dinner, and it's not that bad. If you have a Costco nearby, check out their half-of-a-regular-grocery-store price on lamb. If you don't like lamb, or it's priced for special occasions only where you live, try this same idea with pork or chicken- the leftovers will be just as nice in Monday's pitas. 
We'll be pairing this up with a new summer favorite, grilled salad.






Sunday: Salmon Tacos with Cilantro Lime Sauce

No time for cilantro lime sauce? Just stir some plain Greek yogurt or sour cream into some salsa and go. And you can get that cabbage in a pre-shredded coleslaw pack too.









Monday: Garlic-Rosemary Lamb Pitas

The leftover lamb gets tucked into pita bread, or for the gluten avoiders, served on a bed of greens. We may open a bag of crackers and hummus with this, or stir up a couscous salad









Tuesday:Greek Style Scampi

Google 15 minute Mediterranean Diet and what do you get? This terrific and terrifically fast dinner! 










I hope you know that 
whether your field is a boardroom
or a child's nighttime bedroom,
what you bring to the field of play
when you wonder if you have anything left to bring matters.
The love you bring to your particular game,
when love is all you have left to bring,
that matters.
So this week, whether the course of your particular marathon
is 26.2 miles, or the next 26.2 hours, 
or the next 26.2 minutes,
I hope you find a way to find 
all the love you need to love your way

straight through the finish line.

Menus, July 9, 2014

Keep on the sunny side, always on the sunny side,

Keep on the sunny side of life;

It will help us ev'ry day, it will brighten all the way,

If we keep on the sunny side of life.

Ada Blenkhorn

There's no denying it, and if you want proof, all you have to do is step into a Northern Hemisphere outside, or step into a super-cooled Northern Hemisphere inside. It's Summer. Summer, the most popular season of the year.

No really.

I know this. I know that Summer is the popular one. And not only because I went to school with her....

party party party all the time...
and "have a great summer, see ya next autumn"?
ok, it was funny once...but in every yearbook?

I also know this because the internet tells me so. 
Summer's facebook page?   Two million, one hundred and ninety two thousand, three hundred and twenty eight likes. 2,192,328.  
Why, unpopular Winter was drizzling on my shoulder just the other day about her paltry 219,262 facebook friends.

"It's not just the social media thing." She sobbed, "It's the whole naming thing."
"The what?" 
"The naming thing. I mean, people even name their children after her! May, June, Julie, Julio, Augustus, Augusta, Summer, Sunny.....No one ever names a child after me! (sob) No Novebrette, no Decembers or Januaries, well, one January.... No Gloomus, no Icey, no Freezing, no Raining with a chance of Sleet..."
I was trying to be sympathetic, but really.
"Face it Winter", I said "Summer makes people happy. And people like what makes them happy. You've got Christmas, you've got New Year's. Now dry up. Chill. You're starting to look like one of Doctor Who's Weeping Angels....

and it's creeping me out."

 So, after Winter cooled off, I had a little think. 
Summer really does have a way of making people happy. I mean everyone knows that it's easy to feel down in Winter, but being depressed in Summer?  

It's possible,
but it requires a particular skill set.
and a lot of practice.

Thinking about being happy naturally made me think of eating. And I wondered, if there are seasons that can make people happier, are there dinners that can make people happy? There are foods that promote energy, foods for building muscle, for lowering cholesterol, for strengthening bones...are there meals that contain what the body needs to help produce a good mood? Sort of...

a different sort of happy meal?

And here's what I found- there are of course, comfort foods- foods that make you psychologically happy because for one reason or another, they take your brain to a safe and happy place,

like that time you shared an
ice cream cone with your cousin.

Then there are foods that give you a boost of chemicals like serotonin that your brain uses to produce the sensation we call happiness. So, according to the scientific authority otherwise known as the internet, yes. The right kind of food, and not just comfort food, can help you be happy. And if the onset of Summer already has you a little giddy with happiness, then the right kind of food..

Well, who knows what
may follow?

So, in the interest of scientific research, here are a few Summer sunshine good mood food dinners, gleaned from a few very scientific recipe websites. Let's see what happens!


Wednesday Slow cooked salmon, brown rice and broccoli.

Salmon has loads of  Omega-3 fatty acids, and together with brown rice and broccoli, this is a great meal. Broccoli's on the plate because, well, I like it. Since the stove will be fired up for the salmon and rice, the broccoli will  be pan roasted in a little olive oil.

Thursday: Scrambled eggs and salmon 

Any  leftover salmon (and there's always leftover salmon) will go alongside some scrambled eggs for a dinner rich in B vitamins and  Omega 3 fatty acids. Put some whole wheat toast and pan roasted asparagus with that and you've got a breakfast for dinner that'll  almost guarantee a happy night.

Friday: Grilled Turkey Breast and spinach salad

The jury's out, or maybe just confused, on whether or not the tryptophans  in turkey promote a sense of well-being, or simply promote a feeling of sleepy. Either way, it's good lean protein, and shaking things up by serving it across the calendar from Thanksgiving is pretty fun! Our local Kroger has  started selling toasted hazelnuts in reasonably priced packages right next to the chocolate chips, so this salad is easy for me- substitute whatever proteiny crunch you can find and afford- almonds, pecans, sunflower seeds  or sesame sticks would all be good.




Saturday: Turkey club Sandwiches


Bacon shows up, not because it's good for you, but because it's great for you. If you're trying to avoid gluten, leave off the bread and turn all these into a great salad, or try your hand at a gluten free sandwich loaf








Sunday: Turkey Chef Salad

So many ways to do a chef salad right, aren't there? This one has bonus vegetable protein from chickpeas, as well as directions for an easy peasy homemade thousand island dressing. 
Plus- if you cooked turkey breast on Friday, and you have a coupl of hard-cooked eggs on hand, you can throw the salad together in minutes, leaving lots and lots more time for whatever fun thing you've chosen for your summer Sunday afternoon. 




And I hope there's a long list of happy things that fill your summer afternoons.
And I hope for you sunny days and starry nights.
Hours, or at least moments, of indolence,
Sweet-smelling hugs from sun-warmed children
And the presence of at least one someone
who can turn an ordinary day 
into a holiday. 
Even (especially) 

if that someone is you.

Menus, July 2, 2014

All nations are immediate to God.... every country has interests real and fictitious concerns generous and selfish, motives honorable and squalid. We too are a part of history's seamless web.

Arthur Schlesinger

Which has been a point of argument since 1604, when the first dictionary was published, and people could be absolutely sure that a point of argument was, in fact, the word for what they were fighting about. The thing is, that if we're all pretty much the same, there is no "them". 

And where there's no them, it gets harder to find an us.

Which would not be a problem, except we're pretty much all the same. We want to be unique, we want to fit in. We want to exist independently, we need love and community. We want rules, just not someone else's.
And the department of mind blowing circular ironies brings you the following fact: The desire to celebrate the unique character of one's own nation is so wonderfully human that every nation on the planet does it.

Every nation but one.
That would be Great Britain, the progenitor of many nations.

When the THEM gets larger and farther away, the US tends to get smaller and  tighter,

No, not tighter that way!
Well... not only that way....

Until the us decides that we don't really need the them and the us gathers itself together 'round the rallying cry "We are many and we are one and we are awesome!"
Although that is not a direct quote of the rallying cry heard round the world one July afternoon two hundred and thirty-eight years ago. The actual rallying cry of the American Colonists was more like,

"We are brilliant and brave and can totally rock satin breeches

while you, sir,  just wear really silly outfits."

and so in the banding together of one diverse group in a violent differentiation from its diverse group of origin,  

a new us is born. 

But here's what I especially love about the great big coast-to-coast us that I was born into. When we shoot the works on our National Day, we do it with a melting pot of food that is just like us- food that's come from all over the world to find itself on one plastic coated paper plate. Hamburgers and hot dogs from Germany, Corn from Central America, Potatoes from Peru (by way of Europe). Then there's fireworks from China, giving us a spectacular excuse to just sit and watch the night sky for twenty minutes. And a Summer's night sky? 

Well, that comes from everywhere,
and belongs to everyone.

One of the things that makes us modern Americans us, that is, the ever-looming threat of heart disease and diabetes, means few if any of the traditional Fourth of July feasties are going to wind up on plates over here. But that's okay, because of another thing that makes us us- the optimistic ability to adapt. We are champions at turning lemons into lemonade,

and turning lemonade into a multi-owner profit sharing beverage conglomerate.

The lemons here are a doctor's (very strong) recommendation to stick to a gluten-free version of the Mediterranean diet, and here's what I hope will be the lemonade: 

Thursday: Mediterranean Beans and Rice

Here's a new flavor spin on an old favorite. Ground turkey...hmm. What is it about ground turkey that seems to lay on your fork whispering "I am a substitute for the meat you'd rather have"? I think we'll leave it off entirely and go for all-vegetable protein.

Friday: Grilled Chicken and Artichoke Provecial

Look for bags of frozen Artichoke hearts in the weird vegetable section of the freezer case- they're much tastier and much cheaper than canned. The link here isn't really a recipe as much as a tutorial on how to grill a chicken breast that does not taste like chicken jerky, and it's a great one.

Saturday: Grilled Salmon and Roasted Red Pepper Salad

Again, a tutorial here on grilling salmon, and given my past history of nearly inedible fish, I need it. Costco, if there's one near you, is a good place to start for good salmon fillets at a reasonable price.

Sunday: Barbecued Chicken Salad 

Here's a great and tasty way to use up that leftover chicken and any leftover bean- and it won't be too hard to modify that dressing into something a little healthier.

Monday: Salmon Salad Nicoise

Another main dish salad, this one will use the leftover salmon. Salad Nicoise...sigh...so cool and so filling. One of my favorites.

 I have three times in these past days heard shop keepers and customers cheerily wish each other a "safe Fourth of July"... which is funny. Because we don't wish each other a safe Christmas, or a safe Easter, now do we? But I suppose it makes sense that we celebrate the happy outcome of a violent and costly struggle in ways that mix fun with a little danger....

or a lot of danger...
(yikes! that kid is about to become independent of his
arms and legs! children, do not try this at home...)

So I hope you have a safe and happy Fourth.

I hope that nothing important explodes,

and that nothing important is burned.

I hope you're with people who welcome you 

into an us.

people who value your independence

without leaving you all on your own.

And I hope you know that it matters-

every time you try to make your us

a little wider, a little wilder, 

a little more welcoming.

Because love that can hold out affection

to someone on the other side of otherness?

Well, that's the sort of spark

that can light the whole world.

Menus, June 11, 2014

"Fire and hope are connected, just so you know."

Jodi Picoult

Connected in a curving line of mythic causes and epic consequences, but still connected- pretty much. It happened like this: after an eon or two of trickery and subterfuge among the residents of Olympus, Prometheus noticed that mankind, for whom he had a special fondness, was shivering under mastodon blankets at night and stuck eating cold oatmeal and steak tartare and raw onions day in and day out. 

That's because being warm on a cold night
 and eating cooked food was a privilege of the gods.

So one night, while all the other divinities were sleeping off a bacchanalian binge, Prometheus stole a burning stick of something and high tailed it down to earth,

where he hosted the first barbecue.

After that things got heated. The gods, more than a little miffed about having to share yet another of their nice things, spread  vengeance around thicker than sauce on a pulled pork sandwich. Prometheus was chained to a rock where his perpetually regenerating liver was daily ripped out by an eagle,

or, what some of you would call just another day at the office.

And for the dual crimes of receiving stolen goods and enjoying a gift from the gods, man also was punished. Sarcastia, the goddess of passive-aggression, got even with him by presenting him with a woman. The beautiful Pandora was given to man, bringing with her a different sort of heat and a pretty little box that she had been sternly warned against opening. And so man was punished with the gift of a wife, who in turn had been cursed with the gift of curiosity. 

Residents of Olympus really struggle with the whole
presents are for making people happy thing, don't they?
The year after this, they invented the Christmas sweater.

Of course Pandora opened the box, and released into humanity all the ills and evils it didn't already have. In a panic of fear and remorse she slammed the box shut just before the last spirit, the spirit of Hope, could escape. Now. Here's a thing that has always puzzled me: if releasing the evils allowed them to multiply, why not release hope to multiply as well? Why did mankind and godkind heave a sigh of relief when hope was trapped in the box at the last second?

That's a ponder for another time...A time that is not dinner time.

At dinner time, it's enough to know that even though summer has descended on the Northern Hemisphere and no one wants to heat up a kitchen, we need not be reduced to eating microwave dinners and cereal. 

Because this week fire and hope will be inextricably linked- as they were when you were young, and on your way home smelled the smell of something on a grill and thought "gee, someone's having barbecue tonight. 

I sure hope it's me."

Because this week, where there's smoke, there just might be dinner. 

Wednesday: Grilled Skirt Steak and Grilled Vegetables

 It's no secret that up to this point, I have treated the grill as an outdoor stove. No longer. Curiosity impels me and the internet assists me, and I will learn this week how to cook with fire. I hope. 
We're going to start here, with a relatively simple dinner and a salad with its leftover's tomorrow, and use that confidence to do some hard-core barbecuing later in the week.






Skirt Steak salad

Leftover steak settles in nice and easy under a lime and cilantro dressing for a terrific main dish salad. Gotta have some carbs? Think of warming up some tortillas and wrapping your salad up like a burrito.







Maple Grilled Salmon and blackberry salad

Once more onto the flames for a poor piece of Salmon. Maybe this time I'll be able to fish it out before it over cooks. This salad is so good, that it's showing up for the second week in a row. This time though, the dressing will be a simple maple syrup/balsamic vinaigrette. 

Grilled Pizza and grilled eggplant with tomatoes and basil

What to grill when the vegetarians are with you? This. Well, I hope so. I've heard great things about grilled pizza, and I'm willing to try. Even if it burns to a cinder, we'll still have the veggies, and they look terrific.




Barbecued Ribs and Potato salad. 

Here's the week's next challenge: a long, slow, true barbecue- a thing I have never done. I've linked a step-by-step lots of pictures type recipe, and though it looks a little time consuming, it looks possible. Not even the potato salad heats up the kitchen- the potatoes are grilled along with the meat, then tossed along with the vegetables in a creamy Italian dressing.

Well, that's the line up- look again and you'll see that neither the stove or the oven get turned on all week!  New techniques that need learning, curiosity to satisfy, and a house that needs to keep its cool.  Wow. Put it all together and it seems a little daunting. Well. One dinner at a time, right?

I hope this week 
fans the flames of your passions
and yet keeps your cool.
And I hope that this week those passions
get their turn on the front burner.
Because it's true, you know-
the things that light you up,
that set your heart on fire,
they are connected to 
your most ardent hopes.
So this week, when sadder parts of being human assail you,
Dig deep.
Look again at things you thought were empty.
And maybe, just maybe, 
 in the bottom of the box,
you'll find everything you need to kindle one more