What's Cookin'?

Toast Is Awesome

Written By: Gretchen - May• 30•11

Saturday morning we stopped by the Grower’s Market. When we lived in town, it was a part of our Saturday routine – a stroll up to the market for tomatoes that taste like tomatoes, apples with variety names you’ve never heard of, and a swing by the bakery on the way home to see if they still had any cinnamon rolls left. Strawberries are in season now – the boxes arrayed in front of the Amish girl, their red promise of sweetness putting to shame the anemic big berries we picked up at Bottom Dollar. Big Sky Bread Company had tables of baskets heaped with loaves that came out way prettier than mine ever do. The Italian bread studded with sesame seeds was irresistible. We picked up a brick of Oak Shade smoked cheddar, some hull peas at the Queens Farm stand.

Toast. Is. Awesome.

By the time we got home, it was close to lunch time, so we cut a couple thick slices of bread. Couldn’t resist just wolfing those down, do we cut another couple slices of bread. By this time, the pat of butter in the skillet was melted so I set them in the butter to toast up a bit. A couple minutes over medium heat was enough to turn them golden with buttery goodness. A quick flip and we topped them with slices of the smoked cheddar. The lid kept the heat in and melted the cheese (the bread was up to the challenge of not getting soggy). A slice of tomato on top with a twist of the salt grinder and we had a simple and delicious lunch. Toasting the bread transformed the chewiness of the crust. Toast? Is awesome.

Sometimes a simple peach can be a work of art.

It got me to thinking about little things.
It was a fantastic lunch.
No recipe, no weird ingredients or fancy equipment.
Just start with a good thing, and don’t screw it up. It’s paying attention to the world around you, like buying in season. Biting into the first juicy peach of the summer and taking the time to savor it. Getting the evening phone call from the daughter visiting Grandma who just called to say she had a great day and “I love you, Mom.” Talking politics in the car on the way to soccer with your eleven year old. A cool tile floor on a hot day. A warm bathroom floor on a cold day. A teenager who mows around the wildflowers in the front yard. A chance meeting at a restaurant that turned into a lovely dinner.

My challenge to you, gentle reader? Keep it simple. Notice something little. And know that it’s awesome. (It’s those little things that make slogging through the rest of it bearable.) Well, I think I may go have a piece of toast. With peach jam from Diana’s kitchen. Awesome.

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Heating Up

Written By: Gretchen - May• 21•11

Well, we’ve made the swap – space heaters for fans, turtlenecks for polos, sweaters and hats for T-shirts and caps. What to cook in these days as the ferns turn our back yard into a makeshift rain forest? If your house is like mine, the calendar is thick with activities as the school year hurtles to a close – end of year parties, field trips, make-up games for them as got rained out in our soggy spring. So speedy is the order of the day to be sure.

Down Memory Lane…

One of my mom’s favorite summertime meals when I was growing up was tomatoes and corn on the cob. The tastes of summer stripped to the essentials. The tomatoes were fresh picked from the farm stand down the dirt road behind the high school, chunked up and sprinkled with a crunch of sea salt. The corn on the cob, picked that afternoon, was steaming from the microwave, stinging tender fingers as we peeled back the husks and slathered on butter.

In Beloved Husband’s family of origin, the go-to “too hot to eat” meal was cottage cheese and chilled canned fruit. Me, I never really warmed to it, if you’ll pardon the pun. I buy him the little single-serving cottage cheese cups. He can have it for lunch at work. So, as a conscientious mother, I tell you to eat cottage cheese, it’s good for you and full of calcium. But it’s not my thing. One of the many reasons Beloved Husband betimes questions if Earth is my natal planet.

Powerful Good Eatin’

Any discussion of the good ole summertime’s favorite flavors would be remiss if it skipped Powerful Good Eatin’ – our parlance for man-cooked usin’ real fire. You know – grilling. Back in the day, this meant firing up the hibachi on the balcony with the gentlemen intently watching burgers or steaks slowly become food while beer bottles slowly become empty. Ladies, on the other hand, were in the kitchen, chopping things for salad, boiling water for mac and cheese. And agreeing when the men came back inside saying “Look, I made dinner!” I’ve learned a bit since then. For one thing, we now have a grill that has a side burner – so the gents can heat up their own side dish while they empty them beers. Of course, that means that the side dish is usually a can of beans, but I can live with that. Also I’ve come to see a bag of chips as an adequate side dish for burgers. Ah well, so much for “Mother of the Year.” And I’ve discovered dry rubs – perfect for the last minute marinader.

South of the Border

Who knows how to eat when it’s hot? Cuisines from countries who scoff at a mere 87°F. Mexican, Thai – they know that when its hot outside, you have to turn up the heat. Pass the peppers and the salsa! The kids are only just beginning to understand this one – that spicy we experience in a whole different way from sweet-salty-sour-bitter.

It reminds me of when Beloved Firstborn was but a tyke – we had red pepper hummus. He stuck in a chip, ate it, and shuddered like in a classic Western where the hero knocks back a shot. Looked up at me as if to say, “So this is what we think is good?” Sighed, then took another shot at it.

Marching Orders…

Writing this post has been tough – all these delicious tastes that I just can’t wait to come into season…and can I find a good photo of a chunked tomato? A steaming ear of corn? A homemade salsa fresca? No. So I guess I have my marching orders. Grab me some batteries for the camera, it’s time to get cooking! Coming soon to a table near you…

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At my table are many tables

Written By: Gretchen - Mar• 28•11

Leftover night never had it so good...

So John 14 says “In my father’s house are many mansions,” but at my table are many tables. There’s the Teenager, who’d like a between-snack snack while he’s making a snack. There’s Princess Finicky, who once leaned over and told me in a stage whisper, “Tell Grandma I don’t eat fruit.” She’s in the 20th percentile for weight – I could set her up with a spoon and a stick of butter sans consequence…if I could only find something she’d deign to eat. There’s Mr. “Weight Just Falls Off Me” – doncha just hate that? There’s me. Sometimes I feel like I gain weight just walking by the candy at the checkout. And then there’s my Cheerio, who eats vegetables without comment or complaint, tries new things, and does his level best to knock it back even if it’s pork chops which never seem to be tender enough. He’s the one that raves about the “one-time-only” leftovers reinventions. On top of his Favorites list is Creamy Macaroni Skillet, a “little of this, little of that” dish with a 3-2-1 White Sauce we do for leftover night.

Anyhow, with so many different objectives, it’s easy to slide into “short-order-chef” mode, and end up making 5 different dinners. Now I like to cook, but even I think that’s unsustainable. It’s enough to make a mom want to go on strike. How to avoid this? You name it, we’ve tried it.

The Hunger

Voracious Teenager as a toddler had a list of about 12 things that he would eat. Then one day he decided, “I don’t like macaroni and cheese anymore.” There I draw the line, put my foot down and refused to take anything off the list unless he put something new on. (Faced with the terrifying specter of adding something new, mac-and-cheese got re-white-listed.)

Wicked Good Coleslaw

But as a tween, he got hungry. Really hungry. As he grew, his willingness to try new foods grew – salsa, tabasco sauce… Still he hates veg, but eats them grudgingly. If you douse ‘em with tabasco, they pretty much don’t taste like peas anymore.

Beloved husband’s love of coleslaw dates to his own Hunger period. “If they’re going to give it to me with my sandwich. I may as well eat it.”

Get Yourself a Sous Chef

Get your audience involved in the process! Kids who had a hand in the creation are that much more likely to try it once it’s unveiled at table. They see first-hand that you haven’t tried to sneak in any crazy ingredients. The added bonus is that they learn some culinary skills as well. Which means that over the summer I can say, “Shoo – go make your own lunch.” And hopefully we’ll avoid receiving that phone call my brother-in-law made his first semester at college: “Mom? How do you make tea?”

Veggie entrees are a quick and healthy choice

Being part of creating food gets kids excited about eating food. Lil’ Princess went to Wegman’s on a field trip with the Brownies…and came home demanding I make Spaghetti Squash.

It’s been an eye-opener for me, too. I often claimed that to cook you merely needed to be able to read. But I concede now that not all instructions are created equal, and it’s not just the Amelia Bedelia style misunderstandings that bring you fullstop. (No, no whip necessary to whip egg whites.)

Though we still have our occasional adventures with carbonized popcorn, all three can make their own breakfasts and lunches – and take lead on dinner in a pinch, given a little guidance.

The Parable of the Potatoes, or Enough of a Side Is a Meal

Real Mashed Potatoes

My grandmother fed six teenagers when my dad was growing up, four of them boys. Ice cream disappeared with sonic boom swiftness…at least until the week Cherry Vanilla was on sale, which nobody liked.

Grandma’s solution to scaling up was just add more potatoes. She just peeled more and more until one day the boys cried uncle and they ended up with leftovers. At our own table, especially if I’m making something challenging – spicy, funny looking – I try to include a side that’s always a hit. If the curry’s too spicy, eat the rice.

The Stages of Dinnertime Negotiation: Acceptance

On some things, you’re never going to get them to come around. I don’t like raw onions, and yet have somehow managed to lead a fulfilling life. And I’m not trying the boiled-to-death brussels sprouts they make at the caf. Voracious notwithstanding, The Teenager’s never going to like peas. (But at least we’ve gotten away from negotiating over individual peas.)

And it’s okay to not like stuff. But Man cannot live on bread alone. And Kid can’t thrive on just macaroni and cheese. We do a lot of talking about nutrition – where’s the protein, what’s a source of calcium, and why we care. That opens the door to “I know you don’t like it, but you need the protein so you can grow tall enough to go on that loop-dy ride at the Fair next summer.” Big Picture Thinkin’.

So there’s some of the ways I keep from losing my cool when dinner time rolls around AGAIN. What works at your house?

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Happy Pi Day!

Written By: Gretchen - Mar• 14•11

Strawberry Rhubarb Pie with a lattice top - perfect with a dollop of ice cream

It’s my favorite math-based holiday, Pi day, 3/14. Of course I don’t know that there are a real panoply of math-based holidays from which to choose a fave. Dinner plans itself; we’re havin’ pie. How hard was that? Easy as pie!
Which is an expression that’s always troubled me. Pie is not so easy, truth be told. It’s all the dough’s fault. Pie filling is a piece of cake, if you’ll pardon the expression. For the quintessential apple pie, slice up the apples, toss them with cinnamon and sugar, dot with butter and maybe a sprinkle of lemon juice. Simple.

It’s the crust that is the hard part. My mom makes a whiz-bang pie crust. She’s so good at it she doesn’t understand the market for frozen/refrigerated pie crusts. To me, it’s something of a miracle – who was it who saw this pile of dust, slimy stuff, and water and said, “Hey, I know how to make this into food!” Flour, Crisco, and water, that’s all you need. None of it’s yummy on its own, but together, wow.

Mom starts with the flour in a bowl, and then cuts in the fat with a pastry blender. The whole idea of this is to get the fat distributed all the way throughout the pastry. You wouldn’t want to bite into a big chalky spot of just flour, right? So you work the fat in until it looks like coarse meal – that’s what all the books say; I wouldn’t know coarse meal from Adam’s off ox. But apparently it looks like teeny tiny balls of flour and fat. Then you start adding ice cold water. Just add a Tablespoon at a time. You don’t want to add too much – and the same amount of flour and fat will need different amounts of water to come together on different days. (Shake your tiny fist at the humidity that makes your hair go sproing.) Once it can all be pulled together into a smooth ball, lay out a clean cloth on your counter (I have a pastry cloth) and sprinkle it with flour. You could sprinkle the flour on the counter, but I hate cleaning that up. Press the dough into a sort of pie-ish shape – if you start with a flat oval, the rolling pin has less work to do than if you start with a big round ball. Roll it out to a little bigger than your pie plate.

Here’s where my pie crusts literally fall apart. If you can’t get it to hang together, lay it in the dish and brush the edges of the ripped bit with a little water. Press it together with your fingers. It won’t be gorgeous, but when was the last time someone inspected the bottom of your pie? And if you top it with a lattice top, it looks really impressive even if you did it because you couldn’t roll out a decent circle. Or consider a meringue topping for a custardy pie – coconut, lemon, butterscotch. A streusel top – like on the top of a coffeecake – makes a nice presentation for a fruit pie. So forgiving. Some pies don’t even need a top – chocolate cream, pumpkin. And don’t forget savory pies – corn pie, meat pie, even filled hand-pies like Cornish pasties and empanadas.

Apple Tart - removable sides on the tart pan make it an easy-to-serve elegant dessert.

And how about tarts? The nice thing about a tart dough is that it usually starts with butter – which I have in the refrigerator – and it’s very forgiving at the “put it into the plate” part. Got a hole in your tart dough? Just smoosh it together with your fingers. It’s like playing with play-doh, only it smells nice and is much more delicious. And you can indulge your artsy side, arranging your apples in a lovely spiral. You know it’s the fruit tart in the pastry case that gets the “oohs” with it’s punctuation of berries and maybe a kiwi slice under a shining glaze.

But there’s nothing wrong with a refrigerated crust. Know your own frustration level, and make Pi Day as nice as pie. Embrace your inner circle-ness. Calculate a circumference. I know, you were told there would be no math.

Oh me oh my-o, give me some pie-oh!

Dutch Apple Pie - streusel topping: just sprinkle it on!

Old Time Buttermilk Pie: A good old-fashioned pie straight out of Grandma’s recipe box.
Pumpkin Pie: Forget trying to hide pumpkin in cupcakes, the kids will wolf it down straight if you top it with a dollop of whipped cream. Why should we have to wait until Thanksgiving?
Dutch Apple Pie: A beautiful pie that’s easy as pie – streusel topping means no stressing about the top crust.
Corn Pie: A savory pie out of the Pennsylvania Dutch tradition. Great for Meatless Monday – or no-meat Fridays in Lent.
Taco Pie: It’s in a pie plate, it counts as a pie, right? This easy appetizer is a crowd-pleaser with taco meat and melty cheese. Have plenty of tortilla chips on hand for dipping.
Empanadas: A Mexican meat pie. No forks necessary!

Posted in Desserts, Holidays, Lenten Friday, Meatless Monday | No Comments »

Swedish Food: on beyond herring

Written By: Gretchen - Feb• 25•11

Meatballs, delicious with a dollop of lingonberry.

Swedish culture has been in fashion lately – we’ve all seen the phenom of Steig Larsson’s Girl Who… trilogy (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest, The Girl Who Played With Fire). (And it is excellent, well worth the read, but a bit disturbing too. Does Swedish culture really have this ugly thread of misogyny, or is it just what makes a good story? You would get a pretty skewed view of American culture if all you read was James Patterson or Tom Clancy…) Plus there’s a PBS Mystery series called Wallander, a Swedish police procedural. And a cooking show that shows up on PBS that my dad’s particularly fond of. They’re always cooking outdoors, which is just wild.

So if you’ve been sucked into the allure of Swedish culture, or are just looking for some traditions to celebrate your heritage, what do you do? Once you get beyond Swedish Meatballs and pickled herring in three different colors, where are you? I mean, let’s be real. None of my kids are going near pickled fish on a bet.

Take heart, there’s more than pickled fish to Swedish cuisine. There’s salted fish, for example. And tinned fish. And fish that comes in a tube. Every cuisine has a theme, the elements that give it just a hint of the exotic, what defines what you expect. I say Thai food, you say spicy. (Or “too tasty!” as my toddler son once told me.) Mexican is chilis and beans and rice. You’re not likely to find a box of spaghetti at your local bodega. Like real estate, a lot of the roots of cuisine is location, location, location. A super spicy cuisine – Thai, Mexican, Indian – probably comes from a hot climate. It may seem counterintuitive to want to eat something that makes you sweat while you’re already sweaty, but it works.

So what do we know about Sweden? Fish is certainly a thread that runs throughout Swedish cooking – with all that coastline, can you wonder? It’s the antithesis of tropical. Like Minnesota, Sweden has two seasons: winter and July. (Just kidding.) Winters are indeed long. And dark. And non-stop July makes up for a lot of it. What it means to the food is that there are dueling forces at work – the fresh clean flavors of summertime and the creamy comfort of winter foods that gets you through the dark time.

Those fresh summertime flavors capture that feeling of the first real spring day, that day that the high hits 65°F and we all emerge blinking from our burrows like a mass of groundhogs, our faith that spring will indeed come restored. It’s that first sprig of asparagus, tomatoes warm from the garden, blueberries bursting with summer. You hardly want to cook them or shield the glory of springtime and summers bounty behind a shroud of seasonings.

I ran into trouble with this when my brother-in-law got married. I thought I’d buy the newlyweds a cookbook and a set of good spices to cook its recipes. Recipe after recipe it was sea salt and freshly ground pepper. Luckily there were some breads in the back to justify a bit of cinnamon and cardamom or I would have had to come up with another brilliant wedding gift idea!

A buttery cinnamon roll for breakfast...or any time

Winter is all about the comfort food. Roasted meats, creamy casseroles, rich breads. Sweden is a dairy culture from way back. (Those horns we insist on drawing on Viking helms aren’t from antelopes, you know.) So let’s hear it for lactose tolerance! If you’re going to go on a Swedish cooking jag, stock up on dairy: an extra gallon of milk, cheese, and pick up a pint of sour cream while you’re in the neighborhood. Swedish pancakes and waffles particularly seem to have more milk than a traditional American recipe. It makes for a tender, scrumptious treat, even without maple syrup. And it makes for no more milk in the fridge.

The other thing that stands out about Swedish recipes is that oven temperatures tend to be a bit hotter. The “regular” temperature in most American recipes is 350°F: cookies, breads, roasts, chicken dishes, casseroles, you name it. Swedish recipes tend to come in at a nice even 200°C, close to 400°F. So, if you’re adjusting baking temperatures, if that seems like an awfully hot oven to you, adjust your baking time too.

Let’s end like this – here’s a few of our favorite Swedish recipes.

Everyday waffles - yum!

Everyday Waffles (Vardagsvåfflor): These buttery tender waffles don’t even need a dollop of jam. Scrumptious!
Cinnamon Rolls (Kanelbullar): Don’t make them Cinnabon-style, the size of your head. Little ones the size of a clementine or a muffin are just the right size to go along with a cup of coffee at breakfast.
Swedish Meatballs (Köttbullar): This recipe is from Isabell’s mom. Make them bite-sized, a little bigger than a walnut, and for heaven’s sake don’t leave them wallowing in gravy. A spoonful of lingonberry jam finishes it off. (If you can’t find lingonberry at your local grocery store, try the “fancy foods” aisle at Marshall’s.)
Isabell’s Spaghetti: It may have been five years since Isabell lived with us, but we still love her spaghetti! Well, we love her too, but that has nothing to do with bacon.
Frusen Daim Cheesecake: Finish it off with a slice of this rich toffee-crunch cheesecake. Use crushed Heath bars if you can’t find Daim.
Christmas Rice Pudding (Julgrot): A special dish just for Christmas time. One of my favorite memories of Isabell’s time with us was a Christmas Eve hanging in the kitchen quaffing glog, waiting for the Rice Pudding to be done.

Posted in Holidays, Swedish Food , cinnamon rolls, meatballs, Swedish, waffles | No Comments »

Busy Busy Week

Written By: Gretchen - Feb• 17•11

Last week was one of Those weeks – just flat out, something every night. And in the midst of this constant round of homework, practices, rehearsals, committee meetings, the family still has the nerve to be hungry for dinner every night. It’s when I start envying Snake-mamas: “Hungry again? Didn’t I feed you last week? You must be growing.”

A week like this requires strategy. Then again, as my husband often reminds me, every week could benefit from a little proper planning – avoiding that frequent exchange at our house as the shadows lengthen:

Him: What’s for dinner? I’m hungry.
Her: I don’t know, what do you wanna do?

So whether it’s just this week that’s kicking your butt or if every week needs to be planned with the precision of a land invasion, here are some basic tools I use to keep dinner in its place: something that keeps everybody going, and not something that’s a project of its own.

Let’s go out

You’ve got to know when to say, “Uncle.” If you’ve earned it, celebrate. And know that it’s okay to consider “made it to Friday” worth celebrating. Upside? No shopping, no prep work, no dishes. Downside? Cha-ching. It can run into money; so not your go-to strategy if you’re watching your nickels and dimes. And who isn’t, nowadays?

Meatless Monday

Meat’s often the part of dinner prep that takes the most time. There’s extra washing up to prevent cross-contamination. Wash those hands after you touched that chicken…and the cutting board and the knife and the tongs… And meat just plain cooks longer.

Think about it, except for dried beans, veggie-friendly entrees are often ready for table really quickly. Unless you’re old-school like my Grandma Shanklin, who was of the cook-green-beans-an-hour-or-until-they’re-done school. So buy some

Veggie entrees like Spaghetti Squash are a quick and healthy choice

frozen stuffed shells (prep: 5 min., baking: 30 min.),
do a quick pasta meal – angel hair only needs a few minutes in the boiling water (prep: enough time to boil water, cooking: 5 min.).
Try spaghetti squash. (Cut squash in half, and one half at a time, microwave skin-side-up 10-12 min. Let the done half rest 10 min while you zap the other half. Use a fork to separate the strands and top with a dollop of jarred sauce.) Or try another Spaghetti Squash recipe
Throw together a stirfry with quick-cook rice (5 minutes for Minute Rice, 10 minutes for boil-in-bag Success Rice), use frozen vegetables to save time.

Prepared Foods

Meatball subs are a quick crowd-pleaser

I know, prepared foods can be expensive, high in sodium, high in fat, high in sugar. So balance it. But sometimes you need it: how about

rotisserie chicken (no prep time at all, just a 5-minute swing into the grocery store),
frozen fish sticks (about 17 min. in the oven),
frozen lasagna (an hour in the oven if you’re starting from rock-solid frozen),
frozen meatballs (probably 15 min. in the skillet from frozen, or toss ‘em in the crockpot for all-day cooking on low) for
- meatball subs
- or Swedish meatballs,
frozen pizza (10-15 min. in the oven).

Breakfast for Dinner

Breakfast for dinner gets 'em back out the door.

Usually when we eat breakfast, we’re focused on what’s next on the list. It’s a natural choice for one of those busy nights when dinner is just a way-station on the way to the rest of the day. And a lot of breakfast foods are quick to prepare. So long as you don’t indulge the yen for Grand Slam (pancakes and eggs and bacon and ham and French toast and, and, and…), everyone gets a healthy meal that gets you on your way quickly.

Pa’s Perfect Scrambled Eggs, refrigerator to table in about 10 minutes. Serve with a side of toast.
Shake-n-Pour pancakes (we love these when we’re camping: mix it right in the bottle, no measuring cups, no bowls to wash),
breakfast sandwiches.

Appetizer Night

Appetizers make it feel like a party. And eat enough of them and it’s a meal. It’s like that epiphany my friend Mike had when we were in our twenties – “If you take a side dish that’s supposed to be two servings and eat it all yourself, then it’s a main dish!” So pick a couple appetizers – there’s a wide variety in your grocer’s freezer – or pop a can of refrigerated crescent roll dough and fill it with something fun – and keep ‘em coming. Small sizes mean they don’t need much time to cook.

Mini hot dogs with pierogies,
pizza bagels,
mini tacos.

It’s a little light on veggies unless you fancy those spinach-filled triangles. Give ‘em a glass of V-8 Splash.

Take it Slow…

Crockpots can do more than pot roast!

Slow cookers are a great choice for busy cooks. Prep the night before and pop the crock in the refrigerator, then set the crockpot on low before you head out the door in the morning. Blow in at dinnertime and the house smells delicious! Chili, pot roast, pork and sauerkraut. More slow-cooker ideas…

Plan 4, Eat 5

I find that if I plan five dinners for the week, I never get to them all. Either there’s enough leftovers to stretch one dinner into two – or at least re-invent what’s left, or the kids successfully talk me into pizza in a weak moment.

One Week Since I Looked at You…

Chili makes a great ready-whenever-you-are meal.

Monday: Spaghetti Squash: It came together pretty quickly, and tasted kinda like al dente pasta, with enough pasta sauce. The Little Princess was disappointed – Mama’s wasn’t as good as it was at the Wegman’s field trip. So quite a bit left over. A good addition to rice-noodle bowl soup, or nice topped with chili, Cincinnati style.
Tuesday: Superbowl Chili and green salad. Didn’t get around to making chili for the Big Game, so catching up. Makes a whole mess of chili, so good for lunches afterward, or freeze it for later. It’s a little heavy on preparation – chopping onions, peppers, sautéing vegetables, browning beef. I bet I spent about 45 min. all told on prep work. Popped it in the crockpot for the day, served it with a dollop of sour cream and some shredded cheese. Happy hubby.
Wednesday: Swedish Meatballs with potatoes and green beans. Super quick – tossed Ikea frozen meatballs in the skillet and served with cream gravy on the side made with a sachet of grädssås. A dollop of lingonberry jam from the fridge, some boiled potatoes with butter and parsley. Yay Sweden!
Thursday: Breakfast Sandwiches We’re big breakfast fans. I once was lamenting how difficult it was to get my daughter to eat anything – then we went out to brunch and she packed away pancakes and sausage and scrambled eggs like she was a lumberjack. Menu is all, I guess.
Friday: Grilled cheese and tomato soup Why is it always tomato soup? I know it’s a good match, but you’re allowed to have peanut butter with things other than jelly, why not grilled cheese? Try it, ask for chicken noodle soup next time you order a grilled cheese at a diner. Bet you get a straight look from the waitress. Anyhow, my beloved, who’s so much better at getting the grilled cheeses nice and even and golden on both sides, says that the key to a perfect grilled cheese sandwich is a medium heat griddle and focus, focus, focus.

Well, I’m off to drive somebody somewhere. At least I got them to sit down to a good meal first…

Posted in Meatless Monday, Quick Meals, Slow-Cookers , breakfast, crockpot, meatless dinners, menu planning, quick dinners, slow-cooker | No Comments »

Happy Valentine’s Day…

Written By: Gretchen - Feb• 08•11

Here we are again, the middle of February with winter outstaying its welcome and everyone is ready for a little tenderness. Or at least some chocolate. At this point, if you haven’t made your reservation, you’re probably out of luck. But there’s still time to make the day special for you and your sweetie. Or just for you, nobody’s judging here.

Honestly, I feel like I’m at a bit of an advantage here – I’ve got a whole ‘nother month to deal with Valentine’s Day for my honey. Our very first Valentine’s Day, we were both as sick as dogs – “Happy Val-koff-entine’s Day (hack, cough)” Not the stuff of which romcoms are made. So we celebrated once we both kicked the cough, and had run through our course of antibiotics. It was so nice celebrating in March that we’ve kept up the tradition ever since. It’s easy to get a table at even the most dimly lit restaurant, roses no longer cost an arm and a leg but merely an arm, and mostly it appeals to that Gen-X spirit that attempts to resist mass media’s power over my wallet. (Shakes tiny fist at giant marketing department at Hallmark. You can’t tell me when to say “I love you”!)

But for those of you who haven’t kicked off the shackles of convention – and let’s face it, convention can be pretty alluring – here are a couple ideas that may keep you out of the doghouse.

Scrumptious molten chocolate cakes to soften your honey's heart

Molten Chocolate Cakes:
These are awesome. Of course, it makes six, which may be a little over-indulgent if it’s just you and your honey. Or just you. Share these. I’ll work on a “Just for Two” recipe and let you know how it turns out.

Red chocolate lollipops are a fun treat

Valentine’s Day Chocolate Lollipops
Back in the days when we were allowed to bring treats to school, we used to make these for the kids’ classes. So easy. Melt the chocolate, pour, add sticks, chill. And it won’t bust your budget.

A little food coloring dresses up these festive buttery cookies

Valentine’s Day Chocolate Truffle Pudding
Don’t worry, no truffles were harmed in the creation of this decadent dessert. (Mmm, chocolate and mushrooms…not so much. The OTHER kind of truffle.) Try serving it in a stemmed glass and eat it at the coffee table…maybe have a fire in the fireplace?

Valentine Cookies
A little something for when you get tapped to bring something to the Valentine’s Day Party. Cookie cutters – they’re not just for Christmas anymore.

Just ‘Cuz I Loooooove You…

Or you could go with what you know works. Try making that dish that you’re not crazy about but that your honey just loves. For me, that’d be Creamed Chipped Beef. Not really fond of it myself, but he keeps asking for it for his birthday dinner…and his mom says, “No, you don’t want that, you could have it any time. Pick something special.” I suppose making it just for him just ‘cuz I love him makes it special enough for me. Note to self – make sure we have enough bread for toast.

Just for you...

Happy Valentine’s Day everybody!

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