Summer foods

 It's June! What's on your summer eating list?

Fruit?  Pie?

Heirloom tomatoes?

Lemonade?  Brats?

Basil?

Corn on the cob?

 Cotton candy?

Burgers?

Or a French Rosé?

All I can say is, "Yes, please."  What about you?  Have I missed your favorite?

Too cool.

You know how it goes – you’re researching legitimate things (in my case, a mini fridge that would be suitable for my office) and end up bamboozled by something else (in my case, this jaw-dropping über-cool {pun intended} French-door Refrigerator/Freezer.

Let’s just dream for a second. This baby, from the Samsung Chef Collection, sports 34 cubic feet of storage space. That means it can hold (hold onto your hat) 34 bags worth of groceries. It has an LED display on the door that lets you know the temperature inside, is lined with stainless steel panels to lock in the cold, offers zoned temperature and humidity control, and can produce chilled still or sparkling water at the touch of a button.

 
Yada yada you say. And, I agree. There are many lovely-such cool boxes in the world. But, take a look at that freezer down there. Yes, lookie! The French-door freezer has six drawers and six shelves, which, to my mind, makes me inclined to let the refrigerator tag along, if I were in the market for a new refrigerator/freezer (and not just an office-sized number). Such organizational potential! I can almost see my little containers of frozen pesto, frozen stock, and frozen pie crusts neatly arranged and cataloged. But, I really do not need a new refrigerator/freezer and have no intention of buying one anytime soon. But, I do wonder, friends, if any of you have such a freezer? And, if so, is it as cool as I think it would be?

For the Artsy Foodie

Talk about making you want to eat your vegetables (and fruit).  Vegan photographer Amber Locke uses her artistry to celebrate her passion for healthful eating.  She captures the natural beauty of vegetables and fruits in her stunning limited-edition prints.  This print, in particular, captured my fancy – violet and white kale, papaya, limes, passion fruit, pomegranate, clementines, black cherries, strawberries, kumquats, and cucumber.  I may just serve you such a concoction if you come over soon for lunch (although I certainly don’t promise to make it look this pretty).   Take a peek at some of her other offerings on her blog (www.ambaliving.com) and see what might inspire you.  From artichokes to zucchini, Locke has a visual feast for every taste. 

Happy 2015!

Say No to GMOs!

The Non-GMO seal

I must say that I am late getting on the non-GMO bandwagon, mainly because I didn’t really understand the issue. Maybe I still don’t. But, I’m learning. And the more I learn, the more concerned I am about the growing toxicity of our food supply and the growing environmental concerns GMOs seem to be causing.

What are GMOs? GMOs are genetically modified organisms – meaning they are plant or meat products that have had their DNA altered (genetically modified) in a laboratory by genes from other plants, animals, viruses or bacteria. Why? For crops, it is mostly to withstand the spraying of ever-more-toxic pesticides. As blogger Margie Kelly explains, in her recent Huffington Post blog, GMO crops are "‘Roundup Ready,’ meaning they can withstand spraying of Monsanto's Roundup pesticide and live, while weeds around them die.” Read Kelly's post here.

According to Kelly's sources, 93 percent of soy is genetically modified and 88 percent of corn is also genetically modified. Besides the humdingers of soy and corn, the most common GMOs are cotton, canola, sugar beets, Hawaiian papaya, and alfalfa. Many of these items also appear as added ingredients in a large amount of the foods we eat, ingredients ingredients listed as: Amino Acids, Aspartame, Ascorbic Acid, Sodium Ascorbate, Vitamin C, Citric Acid, Sodium Citrate, Flavorings (“natural” and “artificial”), High Fructose Corn Syrup, Hydrolyzed Vegetable Protein, Lactic Acid, Maltodextrins, Molasses, Monosodium Glutamate, Sucrose, Textured Vegetable Protein (TVP), Xanthan Gum, Vitamins, Yeast Products.

But, there’s hope for those of us who would like to avoid GMOs.

The Non-GMO Project is a non-profit organization committed to "preserving and building the non-GMO food supply, educating consumers, and providing verified non-GMO choices." According to their website, the organization “believes that consumers in North America should have access to clearly-labeled non-GMO food and products, now and in the future. That conviction continues to guide the Non-GMO Project, as North America’s only independent verification for products made according to best practices for GMO avoidance.” For more information about the Non-GMO project, to get on their newsletter list, or even to order their cookbook, click here.  At the very least, you can start to look for their seal, pictured above, on products.

Although I am just beginning to wade through the piles of information debating GMOs’ health risks to humans (possible links to allergies, inflammation and other health issues), and the environmental risks of GMO farming practices (mainly cross-pollination of non-GMO crops, and transference to other products, like honey), my gut gives me a giant thumbs down response.

At the very least, I support the transparent labeling of all food products, despite a recent California proposal (Prop 37) that just barely missed passing (48.6% voted for it) . . . probably because companies like Monsanto, PepsiCo, Kraft, Dow and Coca-Cola (among others) pooled $46 million to oppose the proposal, compared to the $9 million gathered from companies like Amy’s Kitchen, and Natural Path Foods (among others) in support of the proposal.  But, that's a whole other post!

What about you?  Where do you stand on the GMO debate?

 

Bloody Crazy

Okay, I get it – crazy Bloody Marys are in.  Like the one pictured here, the star at O’Davey’s Irish Pub & Restaurant in Fond du Lac (which looks amazing, and, alas, I haven’t tried).  In days of yore, I adored a good Bloody – thick, cold tomato juice on the rocks with vodka, spices, and an icy-crisp stalk of celery.  Wisconsinites also require a chaser of beer, of course.  And, as mixologists got funky with the creation, adding hunks of cheese, all manner of pickled delicacies, even mini burgers, I dashed to try the latest and greatest.

And, yes, they’re fun.  But, call me a drink snob, they aren’t that much fun.  Maybe it’s because each place strives for a wilder version than the other places or maybe I’ve just had too much tomato juice lately, but I think I’ve ordered my last crazy Bloody.  After I’ve carefully dissected the toothpicked creation (hopefully without anything tumbling down my shirtfront) and after I’ve swilled the latest peppery/watery/tomato-ish slush (even with a good beer chaser), I feel a little let down.  Like I’ve just been had.  Like that slightly crusty, slightly mushy hunk of cheese and the wilty dilly bean and the cold little burger just took up valuable stomach space where I could have put a delicious salad and a hot sandwich instead.

Maybe I’ll crack and will succumb again (I DO keep looking at O’Davey’s rendition), but as of late, I think I’m over this trend or fad or best-in-the-world beverage (your choice, the description).  What about you? What hyped-up food or drink doesn’t quite make the grade in your book?

 

Coco Tapi Tea?

Recently, I’ve tried two new food trends – coconut water and bubble tea.  Both beverages.  Both tasty.  According to advertising, coconut water is healthy – it is supposed to help you lose weight, prevent diabetes, aid digestion, fight viruses and “revitalize your cells and boost metabolism.”  I don’t know if coconut water does or doesn’t do all of those things, but, frankly, the claims seems a little over-blown.  And, coconut water, while tasty, isn’t, in my humble opinion, that tasty.  Maybe it needs a kick-butt health campaign to sell it. 

And, then there’s bubble tea – the drink that’s fun to eat.  Bubble tea, reportedly invented in Taiwan tea shops, is a tea base beverage that is mixed with fruit or milk.  It can be frozen, chilled or served as a sort-of slushy and comes loaded with small chewy tapioca balls you can slurp up through a wide straw and eat.  Bubble tea may contain some of the same antioxidants as tea, but some recent reports have linked certain types of the tapioca pearls with cancer.  The reports haven’t been verified to date, though.  It might just be a scare tactic. 

It’s interesting that these two trends produce big discussion.  Is coconut water really the fountain of youth and is bubble tea really the end of civilization as we know it? 

I think we should combine the two drinks into a coconut water bubble tea concoction.  The coconut water’s health benefits would negate any negative effects tapioca might have on human cells.  The result?  A tasty, healthful, fun beverage, maybe called Coco Tapi Tea.  Hmmmmm.

Bottoms up!

 



Chocolate

Oh, my darling 85% dark cocoa dream!  I must have you every day.  And, it seems that I am in the majority since, according to the latest chocolate manufacturer’s data, 90% of Americans say they have some chocolate almost every day.  So, the average person eats 11 ½ pounds of chocolate a year, which means that over 600,000 tons of chocolate are consumed annually throughout the world. 

What about you?  Do your consumptive habits support these statistics?  If so, how do you partake?  Mini bits of chocolate chips?  Bars with nuts, caramel or coconut?  Spoonfuls of pure cocoa powder at midnight? 

Simple Pleasures

They say the best things in life are free.  When you think about it, our lives are laced with hundreds of simple pleasures – little perks that satisfy and sooth, that make life seem A-Okay. 

Here’s a partial list of life’s little niceties:

A new toothbrush

Sleeping in on a rainy day

A baby’s smile

Making all the traffic lights

Fresh flowers – delivered

Finding money you didn’t know you had

Clothes that fit just right

Receiving a snail mail letter

The smell of bakery air

Hearing the right song at the right moment

Stars on a clear night

Saying the same thing simultaneously

Snow Days

The first bowl of cereal from the box

Fresh bed sheets

Drowsing in the sun with a light breeze

A good laugh shared

Spying your favorite bird at the bird feeder

When the workout is over

A sunset

What are some of your favorite simple pleasures?  Take a minute and add to the list!

The Best and Worst Halloween Candy

It’s that time of year again – time to feed sugar to the little monsters and princesses and super heroes and hobos who come a’ringin’ your door bell. 

True, some people don’t give out Halloween candy. Some people are like the dentist who used to live in my neighborhood who handed out toothbrushes. And, some people are like the dentist’s next door neighbor who handed out pumpkin-shaped erasers. And some people don’t turn on their porch lights and sit in their basements watching T.V. so as not to be bothered by the little darlings. But, you are not those people, are you?

If you give out toothbrushes or erasers, I am awed by your treat-giving integrity – something I do not have on Halloween. And as much fun as it was trick or treating as a kid, it is much more fun, in my opinion, handing out the treats. It’s warmer, for one, and you get to pick your treats –meaning you will like the leftovers.

This year I’m giving out mini 3 Musketeer, Snickers and Milky Way Midnight bars. And I’m sure hoping there are some leftovers, not to mention being secretly relieved I will never again have to eat those icky black and orange wrapped peanut butter things or nasty bit-o-honeys as long as I live. Remember those burnt orange globs that looked like spiky raspberries (but tasted like burnt orange)? Or the candy cigarettes that tasted like damp chalk? And don’t get me started on black licorice (yuck) or those gummy Dots. Worst candy of all? Those wafer things that all taste the same (pressed powder with a fake-sugar aftertaste).  Extra double gag to the black licorice wafer things which taste worse than any of the other wafer things and make regular black licorice seem okay.

What are you giving out to trick-or-treaters this year?  Do you have an old favorite standby candy?  What was your least favorite Halloween treat?

The Comfort of Comfort Foods

Whenever we are gone for more than a day, we notice that our cat eats like crazy.  She’s always been that way.  Once, for less than a year, we had another cat and he traumatized her so much she practically lived under that bed – except for her mad dashes to the food bowl.  She gained two pounds in six months and our vet was none too pleased.  How strange, we said.  How odd.   

But, then again, how typical.  Whenever I have a particularly stressful, crazy, busy week, I also make mad dashes to food.  Particularly comfort food.  Now, I’m not advocating this coping mechanism, just fessing up to it.  I’ve always wanted to be one of those people who waste away living on tea and toast when they’re stressed, instead of the kind of person I am – the dash to the food kind.   

My comfort foods?  The short list includes meatloaf, mashed potatoes and gravy, fried chicken, stews and soups, garlic bread, pasta, and every and all manner of baked desserts – pie, cake, cookies, preferably in various forms of chocolate.  Weirdly, I’ve never been crazy about ice cream, some folks’ Achilles heel. I have one friend who chomps chips.  Another who stirs up scrambled eggs.  Another craves macaroni and cheese. 

What about you?  What are your favorite comfort foods?   Or are you the tea and toast type?

I can bring home the bacon, fry it up in the pan, but don't think I'm always going to eat it . . .

Just what is the big deal about bacon? Everywhere you go bacon is added to perfectly good food stuffs. Don’t get me wrong. I like bacon just fine. I like it with eggs and on a BLT. Once in a while, it is nice to have on a hamburger or crumbled over a fancy salad. But, I don’t want it on my ice cream. I really don’t want it anywhere near my chocolate. And, call my crazy, but I hate hate hate it wrapped around a lovely steak. In fact, my husband and I make the butcher counter people give us unbaconed filets and always instruct restaurant kitchens to unpeel the pork before grilling up our choices (we can always tell when they forget and take the bacon off at the last minute because the steak still tastes bacony anyway). Of course, said workers look at us askance. They roll their eyes and drop their jaws. But, it’s free, they say. You get bacon, too! We don’t want it, we reply. Give it to the next customer, enjoy it yourself, throw it away – anything but load another meal with the nation’s favorite flavor. Even though I do like bacon, I don’t seem to like it as much as the next person does. What about you? Are you eating more bacon lately? Do you have a new and improved way to enjoy its smoky crunch? Will you ever invite me over for dinner now that you know about my bacon issues?

Appetizers with Tease

 

Look at this little lovely.  Isn’t it marvelous?  It was the recent star at a wedding and I must say that at first glance it looked too pretty to eat.  Wait staff walked among guests with trays of yum yums, but when the tray with these came out, people paid attention.  What were they?  Drinks?  Food?  How should one partake? 

It turns out the little delectables were both food and drink – the darlings of the bride and groom.  The wedding had a Texas barbeque meets Milwaukee gemütlichkeit theme.  Hence, the baby beer mug (shot-glass-sized) filled with Shiner Bock.  On top of that was a corn cake with fine shreds of barbequed beef topped with mini slivers of dill pickle.  A work of art.  A tongue tantalizer. 

You needed two hands for these wonders – one to pluck the goodie from the top of the mini mug and pop it in your mouth, and the other for downing the fastest beer in the north . . . or the south. 

Talk went on and on about these creative tidbits.  I mean, who thinks up something like this?  Have you seen similar amazements in your culinary experiences?  If so, let us know about them?

Pesto!

’Tis the season for fresh summer bounty.  Tomatoes are ripening.  Corn, too.  And the basil’s been going strong for a while.  What better summer dinner is there than BLTs, corn on the cob, and a nice side of pasta with fresh pesto sauce?  I’ve recently started growing basil every summer (not to be confused with mint, which I grew only once . . . it took over my yard so horrendously that I had to move to escape it).  The reason I grow basil is obvious – pesto.  I adore pesto.  I would bathe in it if I could make enough of it.  And while most people intuitively know how to make a BLT or corn on the cob without recipes (if you don’t know how to do these things, email me in private – this is not something you want to admit to other people), wars have been fought over pesto recipes. 

But, fear not.  I have the best one.  I know, I know, you probably think you already own the best pesto recipe yourself, but, unfortunately, you are mistaken.  This recipe that I have (and that I will share with you very soon) was given to me by someone who knows all – my hairdresser.  I mean, really, if a hairdresser hasn’t been able to find the best pesto recipe in the world, then (s)he can’t be much of a hairdresser, right?  And, my hairdresser is such a generous and kind person that she gave me the A-OK to share this recipe with you.  So get out your pen and paper, or copy/paste/print.  Then, make this and savor it . . . and tell me I’m right.  Or, go ahead and give us your recipe!  I promise to have an open mind . . .

PESTO

2 cups basil leaves, thoroughly washed and patted dry.

4 good-sized (my hairdresser’s words) garlic cloves, peeled and chopped

1 cup pine nuts (or walnuts – but why would you use walnuts when you could use pine nuts?)

1 cup olive oil

1 cup freshly grated imported parmesan cheese

¼ cup freshly grated imported Romano cheese

Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

Optional:  You may add a “dollop” of butter to the mixture, although my hairdresser says this gets very controversial between those who favor butter and those who don’t.

Combine basil, garlic and nuts in the bowl of a food processor and chop.  Leave the motor running and add the olive oil in a slow, steady stream.  Shut the motor off and add cheese, a pinch of salt and a liberal grinding of pepper (and the butter, if you wish).  Process a few more seconds. 

Makes 2 cups – enough for 2 lbs. of pasta.

A Bowl of Cherries

I love summer because summer means fruit and fruit means breakfasts of fruit and yogurt.  I have lots of favorites, but one of the top fruit contenders has got to be fresh cherries.  Nothing beats the ripe red goodness of sweet firm cherries swimming in a sea of creaminess.  But, the logistics of cherry eating often kept me from partaking of them in the a.m.  I would sometimes plunk the cherries, whole, into my bowl of Greek nonfat, but then breakfast became a search and rescue mission of carefully gnawing my spoonfuls of yum in order to find all the pits before they chipped my teeth.  My other alternative would be to cut cut cut cut around each cherry about 38 times in order to slice the fruit away from the pits.  My fingers would be stained, the cutting board would be stained and it would take me an inordinate amount of time to cut up enough fruit to do the yogurt justice. 

“Haven’t you ever heard of a cherry pitter?” a relative finally asked me.

I heard angels singing in the clouds.  A what?  No, I had never heard of such a thing, but if it was any relation to the apple corer/slicer and/or the melon baller (both of which I bought and never used) then no thank you.

I was soon convinced of the superior benefits of a cherry pitter and vowed to get me one of those.  I shopped and purchased and stood, the other morning, poised over a big bowl of fresh, firm cherries.  Zing ping – the pit popped right out!  Zing ping – another did.  It was so fast and efficient.  Look, Honey, I called to my husband, look how fast and easy!  I was popping out pits faster than a machine.  Pretty soon, the whole bowl was full and I covered the pitted mound with yogurt dollops.

My smart relative was right!  A cherry pitter was fantastic.  I smugly gobbled down my breakfast thinking I was all that, now that I had a cherry pitter and knew how to use it.  I could be on an infomercial.  I could sell these things at the state fair. 

“What happened to your shirt?”  My husband asked when he came into the kitchen.  I looked down at what used to be my favorite white tee shirt now splattered with 10,000 tiny specks of red.  Pitiful. 

Scavenging Mothers

I am my mother’s daughter and she is her mother’s daughter and since Grandma was a young mother of the depression, we don’t waste food.  My grandma’s initials were H.G.D. and she once told me, while eating my sandwich scraps over the kitchen sink, that this stood for “human garbage disposal.”  My mother declared it was a sin, to waste food, even though I doubt even she, in her pro-Catholic days, ever confessed as much behind a screen.  So, I blame my behavior on genetics.  Possibly environment.  In any case, I am not completely responsible for my actions, especially concerning almost-wasted food.  Case in point:  today, I finally broke down and ate the organic spinach tofu wrap my visiting daughter forced into the shopping cart (and then forgot about in the freezer) a full year ago.  I microwaved it, took a nose-wrinkling bite, covered it with salsa and proceeded unhappily until my plate was clean.  Unpleasant lunch #8546, known to scavenging mothers everywhere.  Future year-old frozen organic spinach tofu wraps need not apply.  I must learn to draw the line somewhere.