Weekend Update March 16, 2014.

“Every saint has a past, and every sinner has a future.” 

Oscar Wilde

 Ireland's most popular patron saint influences cultures all over the world- need proof? Look what I found in my local grocery store:

An Irish Saint Patrick's day shirt, made in Nicaragua, under the
american crown label, sold in Texas.
Guaranteed 100% lucky in all countries.

Parades, parties, rivers of beer- all to honor a runaway slave who returned to the land of his captivity to spread the gospel. It's a funny way to celebrate a saint. It's a little like observing an international day of silence, tranquility and meditation

and calling it Disco Day.

The thing is, St. Patrick's day isn't really about celebrating a fifth century priest, it's about celebrating a country and a culture that has infiltrated and influenced the whole world. It just so happens that the Irish are lucky enough to have a Patron who identified himself so closely with Ireland and the Irish that it's hard to throw a party for one without the other showing up as the guest of honor. Its not that other countries don't have patron saints- there are even patron saints of states-

fellow Texans, behold your patron saint-
Fray Antonio Margil de Jesus.
I am not making this up.

I wonder why enthusiastic hordes of Irish and non-Irish alike celebrate St. Patrick's day, and great big crowds of no one at all have a party and rowdy parade on Antonio Margil de Jesus day. Well, I suppose it is harder to say.

One could also point out the fact that while St Patrick is the sort of dude who, when his prayers are interrupted by snakes, doesn't go all St. Francis on their pointy little heads and make friends out of them- no! in a fit of holy temper, he drives all the snakes out of Ireland. Meanwhile, St. Antonio Margil de Jesus has yet to even

drive a single mosquito from the great state
under his patronage.

Every party is bound to have at least one fact-checking party pooper who uses actual information to flatten everyone's green beer, the sort of person who will now point out that there never were any snakes in Ireland to drive out. You know what? It doesn't matter- St. Patrick is still...

one of the most interesting saints in the world.

And this week, whether it was the influence of the Irish, or the celebrated saint who is their patron, this was one lucky kitchen. Everything worked! Even the things that shouldn't have! Look:

Lemon roasted salmon and vegetables

The lemony garlic dressing that smacks into these vegetables at the last minute boosts the taste of everything. It's an easy way to use things you probably already have on hand to turn any vegetable into something a little more exciting than, well, vegetables.

Hard to go wrong with sausages, but with just 5 more minutes of work, you can turn them and the veggies they're sitting on into something amazing with this beer and brown sugar glaze:

Beer glazed Sausage and Apples

Apples, green beans and sausage. It should've been weird, but it was really yummy. Also from the department of this-should-not-have-worked, this:

Baked sweet potatoes with spinach and feta

This was supposed to be gross. I had planned on serving the spinach and cheese mixture separate from the potatoes, because sweet potatoes and spinach- not an obvious combo in a suburban kitchen. Then, in a rush of enthusiasm over all those pretty colors (the orange! the bright green!) I forgot, and piled all that bright green right on top of that beautiful deep orange. And it was great! Since everything was cooperating so nicely, when it was time for the Sweet Potato hash with spicy Hollandaise, I took a chance and googled "easy hollandaise"and this version from simply recipes actually worked! Amazing!

We added some chipotles to the sauce and some kale to the plate
Because nothing starts your day with a feeling of
superiority like kale for brunch.

A week when all things dinner mostly worked, and there was something of the green vegetable persuasion on every dinner plate. A green and lucky week. So that's what the corned beef package was trying to tell me-

I really wasn't sure what to expect from a Cattleman's ranch brisket that
had received inspiration from the Irish.
Religious civil wars?  Tragic poetry about slain cows?
 Leprechauns in cowboy boots?

And I hope this week you're lucky too.
 lucky enough to know that it matters-
what you do to protect those you love
from the worst in the world,
from the things that could poison them.
I hope that this week, you're lucky enough 
to yourself be protected
by people who understand you
and love you
and believe in the power you hold 
to put beauty in the world.
people who know how to stay completely human, 
and still make you feel as if you've found

by your very own,
very earthbound patron saint.

menus March 12, 2014

“We survive. We're Irish. We have the souls of poets. We love our misery, we delight in the beauty of strange places and dark places in our hearts.” 

Ellis Flynn

Maybe it's that combination of scrappy survival and poetic sorrow that makes the world love the Irish. Well, at least the part of the world that doesn't hate the Irish. 
It's not as if history is short as a leprechaun on stories of people groups that have been despised, starved, impoverished and exiled. But to my knowledge (and of course I did a little research) none of the other people groups that have been the victims of well-organized oppression are routinely referred to

as lucky.

Maybe it's just that the world admires a people who get up every time they're knocked down- sort of the cultural equivalent of

this guy.
( I had one of these.
Kinda creeps me out to remember it.)

or maybe the world loves an underdog

who insists it's a hero.

or it could be that the world just loves a people who really know how to party. Because though St. Patrick's Day was established to honor a holy man, 

it's not exactly a holy day.

St. Patrick's Day- the day when half of the world (or at least half of this country) is Irish, and the other half pretends to be. The day when finding clover in your yard  

finds you counting leaves, instead of trying to
find the weedkiller.

The day packed with more wonderful meal ideas than any single day could hold. In fact, there are almost too many yummy St. Patrick's day dinner ideas to fit into a week. 

But we'll try anyway-

Here's what I mean:

Wednesday: Beer glazed Sausage and Apples

Here's a great one dish meal. Green beans too pricey? Cauliflower, butternut squash and carrots would all taste fantastic. Don't want to cook with beer? Try chicken broth, or a little apple cider. 

Thursday: Baked sweet potatoes with spinach and feta

You'd think that I'd be content to stick with any five of the five hundred Irish-type dinners on offer from American websites, wouldn't you? Well, I'm not. I got a little curious about actual Irish food, and this is the first result. This adventurous vegetarian dinner comes from the very terrific Irish Times recipe section- there's a chance that at the last minute, my sense of adventure may pack its bags and fly away..if that happens, we'll be serving the spinach on the side of, instead of on top of, the potatoes. There'll be a few extra potatoes roasting tonight that will be used on Sunday.

Friday:Lemon roasted salmon and vegetables

A wonderful Irish magazine called Easy Food brings you this...well...easy food. 

It looks absolutely delicious too. 

Warning!  Since this a bona-fide Irish recipe, the oven temperature is in degrees Celsius; 220 Celsius is about 400 American oven degrees.

Saturday: Corned beef, cabbage, carrots and potatoes

What Irish week would be complete without Corned beef? I know, it's crazy fatty and salty- but look how lean the rest of the week has been! 

As an added bonus, corned beef should be on sale this week, well...everywhere. 

If there are leftovers, we'll use them for Rueben sandwiches on Monday.

Sunday: Sweet Potato hash with spicy Hollandaise

Okay. This is awesome. True, we only have American Better Homes and Gardens magazine's word for it that this is Irish, but even if it's not! Sweet potatoes! Bacon! Breakfast for dinner!!!

It's possible that I might saute up some kale (and put bacon on top) or oven roast some Brussels Sprouts (with bacon) just to up the veggie count, but really, one forkful of eggy potatoey bacon-dusted goodness, and I'll be feeling very lucky. 

And that's what I hope for you.
I hope that no matter how many ways this week finds
of knocking you over
that you never lose sight 
of the things that are worth getting back up for.
And that Irish or not, 
you know the sort of unbeatable delight
and resilient wonder
that are the true heritage 

of lucky people everywhere.

menus november 26, 2013

 Tradition, which is always old, is at the same time ever new because it is always reviving -

born again in each new generation, to be lived and applied

 in a new and particular way.

Thomas Merton 

Thanksgiving, which seems at first bite to be a particularly American Holiday, turns out to be a particularly human holiday, which we celebrate

in a particularly American way.

 Around the world, and across time- ever since people have been harvesting, they have made a tradition of celebrating the harvest.  National Geographic even has a travel guide to the ten best harvest festivals this planet has to offer! 

Imagine! Skipping around the globe, going from one feast of gratitude to another- 

now that's a great itinerary.
how about starting with the flower harvest in Madeira?

Our National Thanksgiving traditions started, as anyone who has attentended a primary school play knows, with our buttoned up, buckled down ancestors, the pilgrims. (Buckles on the hats, buckles on the belts, buckles on the shoes...really, our ancestors seemed to live in fear that minds or middles or feet might loosen up a little). But is was Abraham Lincoln who fixed a National Day of Thanksgiving to the fourth Thursday in November.

This was viewed by some in the South of 1863 as yet another aggressive attempt by the Yankees to impose their Northern customs on an unwilling South.  In response, an underground movement began- a determined effort to take that forced day of thanks and turn it instead into a feast of guilt and bitterness.

this custom of the anti-thanks Thanksgiving
  survives and thrives in many families to this day.

The children of these families, determined to gather for Thanksgiving in spite of something, sometimes grow up to make really funny and/or really sad movies that skewer, stuff and roast on a spit all the things that go wrong and right with this glorious Holiday.
 Wow. I ought to have been more careful before searching  these links to lists of Thanksgiving movies-

Because now I sorta just wanna hang out watching
movies about Thanksgiving instead of getting ready for Thanksgiving.

Our own family has celebrated Thanksgiving in too many places and circumstances to have customs fixed very firmly in place- we've spent the day in Southern Hemisphere summers and Northern Hemisphere winters, on paper plates and china plates,  in hospital rooms and living rooms, with families of origin and families of friends.

Over the course of our many and varied Thanksgivings,  there are a few things that have emerged as habits particular to us,

including:

Tradition 1:
I dither and fret for hours between cornbread and white bread, pecan and pumpkin,
 eventually deciding to cook all of them, realizing at the jingle of car keys that
 we're going to be late to someone else's house,
or at the jingle of the doorbell that I forgot to clean our own.

Tradition 2:
 I end up implementing the advice of one of the most
charming hostesses I ever met:
Just do the best you can, light a candle, and smile.
(thanks Lori, that was great advice)

There are, of course, some food customs as well, and they include some of the things that we'll be eating this week:

Wednesday: Pumpkin soup and salad

Light and easy rules the day. At least light and easy rules the days not ruled by feasting. Instead of buying and cooking a butternut squash for butternut squash soup, try this land-o-lakes recipe that uses a can of pumpkin puree (which is mostly butternut squash anyway). Call it butternut squash soup, if that makes it sound more appealing. A small salad of bagged spring mix with shaved or grated parmesan and pecans will finish the meal.

Thursday: THANKSGIVING!!!!!

This is the first feast for us- a relatively simple one, with just a few of us around the table. Since we won't need that glorious golden turkey carved at the table moment, we'll go with Mom's upside down roast turkey. The bird roasts, as the recipe says, breast side down. Upside: all the juices run into the breast meat during roasting. Downside: it's not as traditionally pretty as a breast side up bird. Chipotle mashed sweet potatoes, green bean casserole and corn pudding will weigh down the table too, and as for dessert, we'll decide on that when my dessert pro daughter gets off of the plane.

Friday: Tomato basil soup and macaroni and cheese

It's not quite time for leftovers here- we've still got a feast to prepare- but we will need something quick and easy. This Alton Brown mac and cheese recipe is one of the most downloaded in food channel history, and my daughter and I are eager to try it out.

Saturday: THANKSGIVING PART TWO!!!!!!!

Another feast, this time a pot luck with some members of the extended family. More turkey, more dressing, more green bean casserole and more of whatever the dearly beloved bring.  One all-important addition: Our daughter has given fair warning that if Aunt Libby is not bringing her cornflake and pecan topped sweet potato casserole,  we might as well all eat at Subway. See? this is the doom that falls upon those who discover a truly sensational side dish. They are sentenced forever to bring that thing, even if they'd rather try something else. Sorry Libby. 

Sunday: Leftovers

If I knew what was going to be leftover, I'd tell you our plans for transformation. Since we are destined to live in culinary uncertainty until Saturday night, I've linked above to a fun site with lots of interesting ideas (turkey soup with stuffing dumplings, anyone?) and you can find other beyond-a-turkey-sandwich options here and here .

 Happy Thanksgiving everyone-

I hope the day is packed solid

 with Traditions that sustain you.

Even if the customs that you're used to give way.

even if you can't be in your customary place

with your customary people,

surrounded by your customary things,

I hope you're sustained

by a tradition of grace.

And fed by the beauty of a tradition

that calls for the sharing of a harvest,

the sharing of a home,

the sharing of the celebration 

of what it means to have enough.

weekend update, October 6, 2013

All gods are carnivorous

Margaret Atwood

As some of you may remember, I spent a quantity of very entertaining hours last week digging into the philosophies and recipes of the paleo diet, and somewhere around the 7th website the words of this fantastic line from Atwood's  "The Blind Assassin"  and the phrase "religious fervor" crossed my mind at high speed, ignoring all rules of mental traffic.

There was a bit of a mental mash-up. As the mental debris settled, I noticed a something.

A few of these food trends feel a little like a religion. 

See what I mean?

If, that is, we can (very loosely) define religion as the thing you consume that in its turn consumes you. By that definition, the world, far from being secular, is packed with religion 

more tightly than a family car on it's way to a 5 day camp out.

Food, the cooks and the cooking of food, the eating of or abstaining from food, chefs, stores, photos, books that assure you that if you do everything just the right way (and it's always the author's right way) you yourself can achieve a state of deity:

really, who wants to be divine anyway?
Such an exhausting load of responsibility.

   The modern approach to food and its intriguing similarities to the religious experience. 
 Having been once thought, it couldn't be unthought. 
(which is a great trouble with thinking, isn't it.)

 Before long, I was amusing myself by arranging Paleo recipes into denominations that were prettier-than-thou, healthier-than-thou, cooler-than-thou, harder-than-thou....

And in the end, I choose nine or so recipes that fit nicely into the does-everything-really-have-to-be-so-hard sect of the more-relaxed-than-thous.

And here's how they worked:

The Chicken with 40 cloves of garlic was....surprisingly not garlicy- at least not in any overpowering way. Kroger obliged by marking down a tray or two of peeled garlic cloves, and the pan juices, together with a speedy roux, made a very nice gravy- here it is with the garlic rosemary sweet potatoes:

 Saturday, the wind blew in a real autumn day- and any of you with friends in Texas heard all about it as we all snuggled happily up with gigantic cups of coffee or cocoa and chortled about it on Facebook. 
It was a perfect day for the chicken, bacon and poblano chowder. 
I made it as the recipe directed, with one change: I substituted a white potato for the turnips. Absolutely not Paleo compliant. But turnips, parsnips, rutabagas and broccoli, while terrific tasting and nutritious on their own, sort of divabully their way through a pot of soup. They just want everything to be about them, and throw the weight of their flavors around til everything else is quiet. 
There were too many yummy things going on in this soup to let them get away with it.
And besides, I'm not afraid of a little potato.

Ok. Maybe I'm afraid of  that.

okay, now I'm officially creeped out.

If you really are trying to stay away from dairy though, this recipe's way of blending the cooked cauliflower into the broth of the soup is a great trick that I'll be using again. Boosts nutrition, reduces fat, and keeps a creamy look and texture.
 A super win.
And in other news, the cauliflower pilaf was pretty okay- mostly, it's a really interesting way to eliminate a few hundred carbs while amping up the old vitamin count. Here it is:

Sorta looks like granola in this pic, doesn't it.
It did not taste like granola.

We happened to have some almond meal in the freezer, so I was able to try the Paleo Chicken tenders just as written, and they were yummy, though a little overcooked and dry after a 16 minute baking time. That little problem was solved by a quick hunt for the recipe for Cane's dipping sauce- the chicken chain restaurant sauce that has legions of devout devotees. Here's a batch of chicken fingers rolled in almond meal mixture, alongside tenders that were rolled in the same spice mix, but with coconut instead of almond meal, and the sauce:

I think the coconut was maybe a little yummier.

That sauce. Try a batch using this recipe, but make it a double batch. And if you don't want to use mayo, use plain greek yogurt instead. It works as salad dressing, dipping sauce, sandwich sauce- but watch out- it's a little addictive, and you may become a convert.

guys, I hope that this week,

as you give your self away

and the things and people

that you give yourself to,

you're able to feel

what you love loving you back.

And maybe just for a little while, 

the needs around you won't

make you wonder if you're being eaten alive.

So that maybe, all week, (I hope) 

peas will be with you.

Menus and grocery lists, October 1, 2013

"Food is an important part of a balanced diet." 

  Fran Lebowitz

Here's a funny thing about funny little bits of pithy wisdom- they seem to state the obvious until, as in this case, one wonders
"Hmm. Well, exactly what does one mean by food.....

and what does one mean by balance?"

A week or so spent in the virtual company of paleodieters and their websites has only stirred this proverbial soup. So much food advice, and all I can learn for sure is that food is an important part of a balanced diet. If by balanced diet one means an eating pattern that promotes health, and by food one means healthy food. It's all so confusing!
 Not so long ago,  returning to the healthy diets of human progenitors meant imitating the diets of  Asia, not paleolithic places. The Asian diet. Theoretically packed with more wonders than an emperor's tomb. Here's a description of the Asian Diet, and the Asian Diet Pyramid. (spoiler alert: this particular pyramid is built on rice flavored carbs) 
Then a little less not-so-long-ago, nutritionists and their lab-coated ilk told us that following the the Mediterranean diet was a sure and prescription-free path toward lower cholesterol and a healthier heart. 

Paleo diet, Asian diet, Mediterranean diet- different emphasis (grammar raptors, what's the plural here- emphasissies? emphaseas? emphasizes?) but here's one thing they have in common. They all have staked out a territory relatively low on the food chain.

No, not like this: 

(Rock paper scissors, ancient diet-style:
Paleo dieter eats a Mediterranean dieter,
who eats an Asian dieter, who eats a vegetarian.)

and certainly nothing as complicated as this:

(what is this?
a diagram from a dance school for ants?)

 All three of these wonder diets eschew highly processed foods, and stay relatively close to whatever the food was before it became food. Sort of like this:

Though they differ wildly on the merits or evils of animal protein, dairy and grains, they seem to agree that if someone somewhere in a lab is working to make sure it tastes good to you,

it might not be long-term good for you.

Finding new ways to play on the bottom links of the food chain qualifies as fun around here,  so I've planned an all week,all Paleo set of dinners from nine (count 'em nine) different Paleo diet websites. Before we start on dinners that revolve around the word diet, and lest you think that I myself am walking a new diet plank, I shall offer a few observations learned in that way commonly referred to as the hard way:

1. View extreme dietary promises, especially promises that have a figure attached,  with a skeptical eye. 

Someone may be trying to sell you something.
And they may care more about selling than they care about you.

2. Approach sudden, drastic dietary revolutions with grace and diplomacy, thinking carefully before drawing hard lines that exclude entire food groups.

Because revolutions often provoke counterrevolutions.
And counterrevolutions get messy when they hit the nutella jar.

3. Remember Sophia Loren's famous explanation of her legendary ka-powiness:

 "Everything you see I owe to spaghetti":

so much for zero-carb.

4. If you really wish to change the way you eat (or anything else), try letting go of guilt. Guilt, shame and self-hatred can give you hours and hours of morbid entertainment,

but they are lousy at motivating change.

5. Vis-a-vis observation 4.  Make health, life, attitude, energy, and not size, the goal of change. After all, when the supposed originators of the original paleo diet imagined the ultimate in feminine beauty,

this is what they came up with.

There. Provisos, addendum and reflections on the hazards of any way of eating whose first three letters spell D-I-E having been dealt with, let's have fun with dinner, shall we?

Wednesday: Salmon with tomato basil relish and roasted broccoli.

Fish has been woefully absent from our plates for weeks, and I've made plans to correct that. The fish cooks in the oven, and I think the broccoli can cook along with it. I'll be making enough fish for salmon cakes on Friday, and there's Greek salad on Saturday that will use up any leftover tomato stuff.

Thursday:  Chicken with 40 cloves of garlic and rosemary sweet potatoes

I've linked to a paleo adaptation of Ina Garten's chicken recipe, and it looks yummy. I'll be using  the original Ina Garten version though which is easier to read, and easier  to cook (and it's right here).   Note: for some reason, the Ina Garten recipe wants you to peel 40 cloves of garlic. For sanity's sake, use prepeeled cloves, or make it fun with this awesome lifehack.   There's chicken soup planned for Saturday, and tomorrow's salmon patties use sweet potatoes as a binding ingredient, so any leftovers will come in handy.

Friday: Salmon cakes and cauliflower pilaf

Remember the extreme low carb diets of yore that asked us to believe that cauliflower was an acceptable substitute for mashed potatoes? Hard-core paleo diets do that and ask cauliflower to imitate rice too. That's okay- around here we quite like cauliflower; it's super nutritious and this recipe looks really yummy. Making the cauliflower look like rice requires a food processor, but looking like rice isn't what will make this side dish taste great. If you don't have a processor, just chop the cauliflower up. The bits need to cook quickly though, so chop them as fine as patience and prep time will allow and I'll tip a bowl of sticky white rice over anyone who tells you that that's not good enough.

Saturday: Poblano bacon chicken chowder

Look! It's supposed to be rainy and below 80 degrees on Saturday!! Let's cook up a pot of soup, put on our jammies before dark and curl up with a novel or binge watch something on television! The leftover chicken finds a nice home in this soup, and I'll be using canned roasted hatch chiles if I don't have time or inclination to prep the poblanos. Bacon seems to be the darling of many low carb diets; the Paleo diet is no exception- but this does not make bacon a health food! The sodium, fat and chemicals in bacon should be approached with caution but...well, you know- it is bacon. 

Sunday: Chicken fingers and Chopped Greek Salad

Chicken fingers are nothing too unusual, are they? I'm intrigued though, by the grownup spice combo in these. A true paleophile would cringe, but if you wish, substitute crushed rice crispies or instant potato flakes for a gluten free alternative to the almond meal. If you have leftover tomato basil relish from Wednesday, and it's not ugly, throw it in the salad. If it's ugly and not yet icky, throw it in a blender with some vinegar and olive oil and call it salad dressing.

There we go- a week's foray into this month's hot new food trend. Which, as far as food trends go, is a pretty good one. Far better than say, the eighties, when eating a tray of brownies was healthy if it was wearing a label that read "fat free". Or the later eighties, when the same plate of brownies were nearly health food as long as they were "sugar free". The paleo diet, like its Mediterranean and Asian cousins, is really just about learning to enjoy food that's real.

and that's what I hope for you.

I hope this week that you find balance 

in what is genuine and beautiful.

I hope that you are nourished and nurtured

by what is true and uncomplicated-

 things (and people)  that transcend trends

and are simply lovely, no matter what they look like.

And I hope that you find a way

to pass all that ageless goodness along.