Weekend Update, April 20, 2014

"A goal is not always meant to be reached,

 it often serves simply as something to aim at." 

Bruce Lee

Little dreams get a bad rap. We're told (and we tell our children)  to dream big way before we understand the concept of metaphor, before we understand that dream is a word that can  mean a lofty and somewhat improbable goal, and not just the images thrown together by your sleeping brain. Which is a little confusing, because when you're little, the wrong kind of big dream can wake you up in a sweat, clutching your most heroic stuffed animal. When you're little, big dreams are sometimes awesome-

but mostly awful.

But then we grow up, and we understand that what ever dreaming big is, that's what we're supposed to do, and that dreaming big has nothing to do with sleeping in til noon,

(big sleeping being one of the ironic enemies
of big dreaming.)

 The loftier and more ludicrously unattainable the better. Because no one dreams of doing the diabolical-

well, almost no one

and no one dreams of achieving the reasonable. Well almost no one. It's not that I don't love the idea of being tall, brunette, comfortably famous and fabulously wealthy, but that's not the stuff my dreams are made of. As an example, I offer the small but worthy hope which has often begun my day:

please help me not hurt anyone
with my hands or my mouth or
heavy machinery.

Tiny but attainable. A goal that bite-sized means that at the end of the day, no matter what moved from the to-do list to the undone list, one can crawl into bed at night (no matter how many mountains of laundry one had to climb to get there) and assess daily success with a single question:   No one irreparably harmed? Well then:

Goooaaaallll!!!!!!

Or take a bigger wish- the wish to stay healthy and strong enough to accomplish a million dreams. That wish was broken into dinner sized pieces, and I dreamed last Tuesday of a week of fast, inexpensive, healthy meals that would power us through all we wanted to achieve.  It seemed like such a simple dream too. Here's what happened:

First up, Alton Brown's slow cooker pork chops. A great choice for a busy day. Or it would have been, if I had read the recipe. The recipe that says the pork chops ought to sit in the salt solution overnight. Too late for that, a few hours of brining would have to do. And the recipe calls for dried apples. Which I had forgotten to buy. Ok, there were two apples in the fridge. No time for searing, and no beef broth. The only interesting cooking type liquid in the house was a can of coconut milk. Coconut milk it is...

and do you know what?
They were great!!! What a forgiving and flexible recipe!

And I'd forgotten to make the quinoa ahead of time. Fortunately, this method of cooking quinoa is one of the fastest and most straightforward I've found. Once dinner was on the plate, I realized that the real objective wasn't a recipe, it was a healthy, yummy, inexpensive meal. So, you know-

gooooaaaallll!

After that, the week's tiny dinner-plate sized goals came together a little more easily.

adding radishes to black beans and rice!
Amazing!  

The black beans were so good in fact that we had, and this was a little hard to believe, not enough black beans for the bean part of the pork and black bean tacos. So they turned into just plain

  coconut lime tacos

When we have leftover pork anything except-for-ham-and-bacon, it usually gets covered with barbeque sauce and ladled onto a bun. And that's great, but these tacos are a terrific alternative- very simple sort of street taco stand tacos, with a filling so flavorful that mounds of toppings like salsa and sour cream are overkill. We'll be doing this again.

And if one of your goals is to be energetic and healthy, and your goal-to-get-you-to-the-goal goal is to cut out some fat without depriving yourself of flavor, try this:

Salmon on angel hair pasta with Dijon Butter Sauce.
It takes longer to type than it took to make.
and that sauce!! so much flavor for so little fat!  I can't
wait to try it on broccoli.

There was enough leftover quinoa for the quinoa and brown rice bowl with vegetables and tahini, but no leftover brown rice, and none in the pantry. So, dinner turned into quinoa and quinoa bowl with vegetables and tahini. Because a trip to the shop would have taken longer than it took to cook up dinner, and almost as long as it took to say the name of dinner.  Here's what this super complicated sounding meal really is- it's a veggie stirfry on quinoa, with a tahini sauce (a little like hummus) instead of a soy sauce. 

and avocados. Because avocados are for always.

But what to do with the left over leftover quinoa? Breakfast, that's what! And before you eewww at the idea of something so dinnery making the move to mornings, think of how wonderful it is when breakfast invades  dinner territory. And then read this very fun list of 24 ways to eat quinoa for breakfast. Since there were two cooked sweet potatoes, some kale and a stack of tortillas in the fridge, we brunched on Kale and Sweet Potato Breakfast burritos- and they were the surprise hit of the week:

Vegetarians rejoice! A great tasting portable, protein packed meatless meal.
Carnivores, you're right. It would be even better with bacon.

Even when I dropped the ball, these dinners made a touchdown- the slow cooker pork, the quinoa, the butter mustard sauce- all of them relatively easy, satisfying and inexpensive ways to wind down one day and fuel up for the next.  
And this week, I hope you have time to celebrate
the little goals, the daily dreams.

and that you hold in your hand a few of the
things you're reaching for.
I hope it's a week you're proud of.
And if it's not,
then I hope for you the courage to dream deeper
to reach deeper than the voices that tell you
what your dreams ought to be,

and name the dreams that are.

April 16 2014

“You can’t cross the sea 

merely by standing and staring at the water.” 

Rabindrath Tagore

Nor can you shape up that newly sprung spring garden by staring at the weeds, or clear out the flotsam and jetsam of winter

by staring at the closet.

It's really truly Spring up here in the Northern Hemisphere- well, mostly. Snow fell in Lubbock yesterday, but Lubbock doesn't count. Expecting Lubbock to match months to temperatures is a useless as expecting a dryer to match socks. 

For most of anyway, it's spring- and that means brains and backs and pinterest boards are popping with  projects that really need doing before the window of spring slams shut and summer roars in. Only the Holidays rival these next weeks in the stuff that needs doing to time it can be done in ration. The difference, the great big planetary difference, is that in spring, we are not fighting the urge to curl up with the rest of the natural world and take a nice long nap. In spring, the whole world is vibrating with energy, and all we have to do

is catch the wave.

Even though Spring is doing it's best to put a, well, spring in your step, if you want to tackle that list without developing a midwinter scowl, you'll have to eat well.  Because that's what eating well is for. Doing other stuff besides eating. No one chooses 

one of these...

instead of one of these...

because the ones of these of the first part, vis-a-vis carrots, taste better than the these of the second part, vis-a-vis a warm, gooey, chewy cookie.  Nope, you  (most of the time) choose the carrot over the cookie because you care about eating well. And you care about eating well because there's stuff besides eating that you want to do. So, in order to put my own spring project list in perspective, I asked menu advice from a friend whose spring projects include training to become....let's see, what was it?

No, no, that's Iron Giant....that's not right...
dial it down a little...

Oh! yes, Iron Man! that's right,
he's training for an IronMan.

Never a bad idea to ask someone who's  using tons of energy every day to reach a long-term goal what his family eats for dinner, and lucky me, it all sounded very tasty. Lots of vegetable protein, and lots of vegetable everything else, carbs and lean meat- here's the plan: 

Wednesday: Pork Chops and Quinoa

I learned last summer that a crock pot is the year-round friend of a busy day. Cast in the role usually played by rice or noodles in this meal is the high-protein friend of a busy of a busy tomorrow, quinoa. Both the quinoa and the pork show up later in the week, so extras are welcome and if there's energy left after the quinoa's made, it'll go into opening a bag of salad.

Thursday: Black Beans and Rice

One of our favorite sources of vegetable protein turns out to be a training day winner too. If you have time to kick it up a notch, try topping the black beans with this dressing made of tomatoes, peppers, vinegar and oil.  Beans have a law of physics all their own, and there are always leftovers, no matter how many you start with. Not to worry, they'll be great in tacos on Saturday night.

Friday: Salmon with Angel Hair Pasta and Asparagus

This looks just yummy- and take a look at that lemon mustard sauce pouring itself around where the higher fat hollandaise would go! Whatever springtime burst of energy you need for a busy Easter weekend, this'll help get it started.

Saturday: Black Bean and Pork Tacos

Pull out all the leftovers and a stack of tortillas and you've got tacos. Add a can of coconut milk, lime, cilantro, avocados and cheese and you've got great tacos. If you feel like the chips and salsa really ought to be there and you want to save some fat calories, try these homemade baked tortilla chips and open a jar of salsa or try Pioneer Woman's great (and fantastically easy!) homemade salsa.

Sunday: Quinoa and Brown Rice Bowl with vegetables

This would be a really time-consuming way to spend a Sunday; would be, if you didn't have leftover quinoa and rice waiting in the fridge, and a ripe avocado that you didn't use on the tacos. All that's left to be done is cook up the veggies an stir up the sauce, and you've got meal that will send you into next week feeling strong and satisfied.

 And I hope that no matter what you end up doing,
or what you end up eating,
that you feel strong and satisfied all week long.
whether it's running a marathon or running an office or running after preschoolers 
whether it's digging into problems or digging up weeds
whether it's taking a step toward a dream, or taking a hike.
I hope you feel the energetic earth 
giving you the lift that will float you
from one happy day

straight into another.

Menus, September 3, 2013

You don't need a silver fork to eat good food.

 Paul Prudhomme

You don't have to eat expensively to eat well; your table needn't be upper class to be classy; food works if it fuels the worker.  Such have been the kitchen credos of hard-working working class cooks throughout history and around the world. It's true, working class food has received double helpings of sneering contempt for the last 60 years or so-

it's often scorned for being either

too stodgy,                                           or (my personal favorite) too starchy.

While the posh fare of food smuggins is just as often derided for being either

too stuffy,                                              or just plain silly.

 
The thing is, according to this  very interesting article, until the modern phenomenon of factory produced food, working class food was raised, purchased and prepared quite close to home. It was fresh, it was local, and it was meant to nourish and satisfy hard working appetites.  Using only what what your own farm or the nearby village could provide was a necessity, and that necessity sparked some fantastic forgotten inventions which I, your faithful research hound, have rediscovered:
  

These guys were sent to work with thermosfuls
 of special magnetizing stew. That's why they can perch
up there with such casual security. 

These ladies are enjoying special amphetamine-laced sandwiches.
That's why they look so happy about the mountain of housework
they'll be climbing after lunch.

And these ladies are smiling because Heinz just invented
ketchup soup. Hmmm... the fixed intensity of  some of those
smiles....maybe they too had some special sandwiches.

Seriously. Take a quick look at this list of National dishes around the world, and you'll see that no matter where you (or your parents, or your grandparents) come from, the most famous food of your country is the food that feeds the workers of your country.

This whole mind spin began late Sunday night, as my daughter Liz and I talked about Labor day plans and Labor day food. 

"Labor day food ought to be the food of laborers." She said.

"Hey...." I answered, "what an awesome idea!" 

and then she started a sentence in one of the very best ways possible:

"I wonder...." she began, "what is the food of workers?"

and the resulting mind spin, after a short detour into Middle Earth,

(Here it is Liz, an absolutely authentic
 recipe for Lembas, The waybread of the Elves.
 Easy to carry, with nutrients enough to keep you toiling
all the way to Mordor.) 

took me, as most mind spins do, toward dinner.

Let's see what we wound up with, shall we?

Wednesday: Oven roasted brisket and Caesar salad 

The hardest part of cooking this brisket is remembering to start it 5 hours before dinnertime. If you can't make it home to throw it in the oven at lunch, consider starting it in the morning and lowering the oven temperature and cooking it all day. The dressing for the salad is easy with a tube of anchovy paste.

Thursday: Meat pie and salad

Last night's leftover brisket will get chopped up into the filling of these wonderful pies. Or maybe just one pie.  If you want a more authentic Aussie working meal, make some mashed potatoes, and top the pies with ketchup. 

Friday: Slow cooker pulled pork and kale and apple slaw

The pork will go into the slow cooker in the morning, and by the time I arrive home, the house will smell amazing. Chances are strong that we'll serve the pork as is, rather than turning into sandwiches.

Saturday: Brazilian black beans with tomato vinaigrette and farofa

This meal, black beans with all the trimmings, is the classic fuel of the home audience's boyhood. In Brazil, where he grew up, beans and rice are a staple and appear at both lunch and dinner several times a week. There's a whole lotta pork in this recipe- we'll be using last night's leftover pork instead of the loin, and maybe the sausage and bacon too. (Maybe? what am I saying!?! Of course I'll use sausage and bacon!) I've used cornmeal instead of the manioc flour in the farofa pretty successfully. Looking for an inexpensive and authentic dessert? Try these yummy fudgy brigadieros or this flan. 

Sunday: Tacos

Okay. Take a look at the leftovers in the fridge. Do you  have remnants of brisket, pork and/or black beans?  You don't have leftovers, you have the start of a taco buffet.  Throw down any assortment of grated cheese, shredded lettuce, tomatoes, onions, sour cream or Greek yogurt, cilantro or avocados, add some salsa, tortillas and chips, and you've got a feast.  Call your hard working friends over and party together before work starts all over again tomorrow.

And for the rest of this week, I hope you know that it matters.

The way you work hard 

to make sure that the people you love

have what they need

to do what they need to do.

That matters.

And I hope that this week, you feel nurtured too.

I hope that the food you eat

(both the real and the metaphorical)

hits the spots in mind, body and soul;

fills you, feeds you, and fuels you

for all the beautiful
and crazy tasks that lie ahead.

Menus May 28, 2013

"Here's rosemary, that's for remembrance;

pray, love, remember"
Ophelia, in Hamlet, Act 4

William Shakespeare

I missed an opportunity last Tuesday. I overlooked a calendar event that makes a late May dinner fall naturally onto the plate. I must have curled up with a book in a sunny time warp or something, because it wasn't until late Wednesday, as the internet began to scroll out dozens of tender reminders, that I realized...

What!? Memorial Day this weekend?!?
But it was only just Mother's Day!
 I have planned zero barbecue things!

Alas, the week's menus were already set in cyber-stone and I'd already shopped for groceries. But in an odd way, forgetting made me think about remembering, and as we drove past lawn flags and concert posters, I thought of poor mad Ophelia, sending messages in secret flower code when she could no longer speak a sane sentence. 

Don't be misled- the fact that this line about remembrance stuck in my brain does not mean that I am either high-class or high-brow.

It just means I know a thing or two about women and crazy.
From, you know, watching movies.

And yes, rosemary really was for remembrance. The Victorians  confirmed it when they formalized the flower code in a "language of flowers" dictionary , which  made it possible for repressed Victorian rascals to assemble cute little bouquets to send to each other instead of actually talking. I'm sure this went a long way toward making communication between the sexes less confusing. 

See, If only she'd said
"Sweet pea, white clover, arbutus, gardenia. Jonquil? Celadine!"
Instead of "Pass the grapefruit."
Breakfast would not have ended so badly.

 So, rosemary and remembering have been twining together in my mind ever since last week;  since there seems to be no untangling the two, I think I'll take them to dinner. Rosemary gives a few of this week's meals a little flavor kick, and as far as cooking with memory, well that's for Friday.

There are a few tenacious sprigs of rosemary growing in our backyard, which I planted  years ago after reaching for that little plastic folder of fresh rosemary at the grocery store, hesitating, doing a little math...

"Holy herbaceous border, Batman!
That's $13 a pound!"

If you don't have such easy access to rosemary  and you want to play with these recipes, use it dried or live dangerously and pinch a stem from almost any landscaped shopping center or housing development. (Once you look for it, you'll see it everywhere.)

But in case you, like I, am botanically challenged, or in case the rosemary in your neighborhood park is trying to blend in with real roses, I offer this "recognizing rosemary" tutorial from my own....er...garden, where I have planted both roses and rosemary. With unequal success:                                                   

Rose. Tallish. Thorny.                                                                  Rosemary. Shorter. Spikey.
Dies.                                                                                           Does not die.
Requires pruning, often with a shovel.                                          Does not require pruning.

And now that we've taken a stroll down the garden path, let's make our way to dinner, shall we?

Wednesday: Roasted rosemary chicken, Rosemary mashed potatoes and salad.

I'll be cooking two chickens tonight, because I've a use for cooked chicken two nights from now, and if I get started in time, I'll brine them in salt and honey. The salad will be any simple something that lets me feel like we ate a green veg.

Thursday: Pizza and salad.

Ok! excitement is rising, because I've found a recipe for a no-knead bread  that looks easy and fun. It takes time though. Little effort, but lots of time. It needs about 18 to 24 hours to rise, so I'll  need to stir it together after dinner on Wednesday. In case I forget, I'll make this more standard but still easy foccacia dough. A homemade crust costs pennies, and makes the house smell like little warm carbohydrate angels did a happy dance in the kitchen, but a premade crust (or a premade pizza) is a good time-saving option. The salad will be tomatoes, olives, and chunks of mozarella on lettuce. 

Friday:Retro chicken casserole and Morton's wedge salad

Thinking of wars and remembrance took me on a brief cruise around some fantastic websites that list hundreds of retro recipes. Wanna know how to make a dessert with your sugar ration? How to use the veggies in your victory garden?  try here. Or, move up to the 50's here, and you'll see things like this "hey my mother used to make that"  chicken casserole, and this salad that became famous when iceberg lettuce was a luxury that only the wealthy could afford. And jello. Lots of jello.

I'll be using the leftover chicken from Wednesday.

Saturday: Burgers and  Oven fries and tomato salad

The smoke of neighborhood grills scented the air here all weekend, and I've been jonesing for a burger ever since. We're currently between grills though, so I'll be trying this method of getting a crispy on the outside, juicy on the inside burger from the stovetop.  This is my all time favorite oven fry recipe and this week, I'm going to try it with uber nutritious sweet potatoes. 

Sunday: Tacos and salsa

For some reason, after a burger feast, we always patties leftover. I'll make taco filling by chopping them fine and mixing with taco seasoning.  Since the tacos are going to be so easy, and since I've yet to find salsa in a jar that we're crazy about, I'm thinking about making this salsa. And, since avocados are hovering around 40 cents apiece at Aldi, we'll have some guacamole too.

Roast chicken, casserole, pizza, burgers, tacos- you know it's a quintessentially American meal plan when it has it's roots in 4 different countries.

and of course, the rosemary- because

It's so easy to forget, isn't it? 

So easy to forget how connected we all are-

how kindness or cruelty or courage ripple over and through our lives

like the circles from the splash of a stone.

I hope this week you can remember.

I hope you can remember a time (maybe even now) 

when you were surrounded by love.

When you were embraced with a fierce kindness that would fight tigers for you

or feed tigers for you.

When you were protected by a fearless wisdom that knew which tigers to combat, and which tigers to cuddle. 

even when all those tigers were you.

Menus, September 4, 2012

what's the best brisket to ever come out of this kitchen? The one that spent Sunday night in a bbq sauce marinade and roasted at a slow 350 while we took in a matinee and ran an errand. the one that made the house smell SO good that I marvelled aloud that roast beef candles aren't sold right alongside the creme brulee ones. The labor day 2012 brisket.( I was pretty stoked.)
That means I get to start the week with some leftovers I'm actually looking forward to eating:
Wednesday:Brisket tacos and guacamole.
 No link here, because I don't think you need one- just two little tricks, and a great way to do guac.
First trick:
The brisket is much easier to slice and chop when it's cold. So, take it from the fridge, slice it, remove any of the visible fat that you want to, and throw it in a pan or in the microwave to warm up. If you want to, add some taco seasoning, some chili powder, or some other seasoning. My opinion? The packets of  taco seasoning are pretty strong , and are best used when you need to disguise the fact that the  ground beef in the taco is as bland as tofu. Or maybe is tofu. Or would've been tofu, but the ground beef was cheaper.
The point is. If you're lucky and clever enough to have tacos filled with tender, tasty chopped brisket, why disguise that wonderful flavor? A little cumin is all I'll be adding.
 Second trick:
Let's start with a disclaimer: Our kitchen is a dangerous haven. The lurking possibility that meal prep may (but never yet has been) be interrupted by a trip to the ER is part of what, for me, elevates cooking from a chore to an indoor sport.
It's a formula I learned from my children: The probability of fun is often directly proportional to the possibility of injury.
This avocado trick, which I'm sure many of you already know, involves passing a knife within mere millimeters of the human hand, and it is AWESOME! Here it is.
1. Halve the avocado, and give it a twist, separating the halves.
2. Cup one half in your hand, and with a small knife, cut parallel lines all the way down to the avocado peel. (feel how close that knife tip is to your palm?)
3. Rotate the avocado and cut again, forming little squares, like this:

  4. Now all you have to do is put that knife down, and reach for a spoon, and scoop those cute little cado-cubes into a bowl, like this:

 

5. Now for the part that certain people (and you know who you are) have a hard time watching. Cup the half of the avocado that still holds the pit in your palm, and give the pit a solid thwack with the knife.

                   Do be careful, really. One drop of blood can ruin a whole bowl of avocados.

Now for the guacamole, which can prompt summer versions of  ancient autumn food feuds over that venerable Thanksgiving side dish, stuffing (or dressing. Sigh. Let's not even start those battles til November, shall we?)
Mayo, or no mayo? Lime or Lemon? Garlic, onion, or both?
Here's my favorite. I learned it from my friend Andrew who, according to his wife Rachael, built a sort of grad school legend on the power of this dip alone.
I've asked for specific quantities, but he's a proponent of the "eyeball method" of measuring. Which is fine (naturally) when I do it, but when it's done by someone who's making something I want to learn how to make...well.... if the next time Andrew's mashing up a bowl of guac, a teensy bit of lime juice accidentally squirts into said eyeball....
So, quantities listed are of my own invention; adjust according to your own inner eyeball.
3 chopped avocados
1 Tablespoon lime juice (that's 3 or 4 of the tiny key limes)
1 tsp minced garlic (mine came from a jar)
1 small tomato, diced (it came out to about 1/2 cup)
2 Tablespoons diced onion
1/4 cup minced fresh cilantro
Diced jalapeno, if desired.
salt and pepper.
mash it up, and that's it. A bright, clean, simple guacamole, that lets the flavors of summer tomatoes and avocados shine.

Thursday:Salmon and Thai noodle salad
http://www.avocado.org/recipe-details/view/22206/thai-salad-with-california-avocado-and-fresh-herbs
I received a small sonnet last week on facebook which let me know that I'm not the only one crushing hard this summer on avocados- did you know that they have a website all their own? Avocado.org's  Thai noodle salad looks wonderful! I'm opting to leave the chicken out of this dish entirely, so that I can pair creamy avocados with creamy salmon- one of my favorite summer combos!
I'll be popping the salmon fillet in a pan with a little liquid,probably white wine, or water and lemon, and olive oil, and letting it sort of poach/pan fry till it's just cooked through. I'm cooking enough to use the leftovers in a salad on Saturday.

Friday: Chicken salad
 http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/emeril-lagasse/mediterranean-chicken-salad-recipe/index.html
I'm going to use a bag of poached chicken that I conveniently stashed in the freezer and forgot about. If chicken salad sounds good, and you don't want to cook, remember you can always take the meat off a rotisserie chicken that your local grocer has cooked for you.
two, maybe three notes about this particular recipe:
1. Don't spend an extra moment of your life hunting for plum tomatoes. Unless you want to. Just use the nicest ones you can afford
2. I really do love pine nuts, but I wonder if their delicate flavor might get lost somewhere around the feta. I might splash out on pine nuts, or substitute toasted walnuts.
3. Look down, way down on the recipe. See that pretty word? chiffonade? It's a kitchen technique I use often, on all kinds of leafy things. Here's how it's done.

First, make a cute little leaf stack:



Roll it up like a cigar

                        and cut tiny slices of the roll. Use  kitchen scissors to cut directly into the bowl, or a knife on a cutting board.



There! You've chiffonaded. which sounds as if you and your lovely basil have just had a charming dance in an aristocratic ballroom. bonus? Stop. Take a deep breath. You just made your kitchen smell basil-tastic, didn't you? Inhale again.That's the smell of fresh basil falling on a cool salad on a hot day. You're pretty amazing, aren't you?

Sunday: Salmon Salad nicoise
http://www.marthastewart.com/318648/salmon-nicoise-salad
 An old summer standby here- I'll probably cube the potato and cook it on Thursday, when I'm boiling water for the salad noodles. And, of course, I'll include avocados.

Monday: Couscous salad and Chicken
http://www.myrecipes.com/recipe/couscous-salad-with-chickpeas-tomatoes-10000001571456/
Another summer standby that should use up the rest of the tomatoes from last weekend's farmer's market foray. I may use water instead of the chicken broth recommended for hydrating the couscous.
If we're hungry enough, I'll also pair this with a little chicken or fish. Chicken, probably, pounded thin and pan seared in a little olive oil, white wine and lemon peel.

A long post today! I hope that reading it was fun, and that using it proves to be even more fun. Onward then, with this week's kitchen adventures. If anything requires stitches or an eye patch, I want to hear the story!