Al Dente

Slow-Cookered BBQ Pulled Pork Sandwiches, Simple, Not Plain

If you've read my posts over the last couple years, you probably noticed a pattern. I often reinvent the wheel, publicly laud my accomplishment, then loudly urge others to try it. Guess what? I've done it again! After a couple test runs, I now make BBQ pork sandwiches that a real Texan admitted were better than what's served in Texas! (As a North Carolinian, I hate even using them as a standard by which to measure BBQ. Ours is a BBQ rivalry akin to the Hatfields and McCoys in historical proportions, but I concede to use Texas here as a measuring standard purely in order to gloat. Ok?)

Let me come to the point. You can make these too. It's so easy, it's almost guilt-provoking. Listening to people holler "MMMMM" in all caps and slap the table when chewing one of my sandwiches makes me feel like I should have worked harder to earn the response. I am to guilt what rabbits are to progeny, so I dilute the praise with ideas like "Gosh, they probably like it so much because it's pure fat and flavor, which people more often than not are withholding from themselves these days in favor of healthier eating. I guess when they eat a succulent saucy sandwich with a side of home-made french fries, sliced thin and fried in oil, with plenty of salt and pepper, they're surprised, or really just reminded. They haven't had such fare in so long, they've forgotten. Absence has made these hardy overly-nutritious Northwesterners' hearts grow fonder." To which my husband will say, "Shut up. They're just good, that's all."

The sauce is definitely a make or break ingredient. I use a good ol' store-bought bottle of Annie's Naturals Organic BBQ, Original Recipe. While Annie's does offer a myriad of flavorful BBQ sauces, I like the Original Recipe the best. It's just the right spice and tang. It's richly flavored without knocking out the kids' little taste buds. It's the best for the whole family. And, as usual, I first bought a bottle because it was the least expensive on the shelf, but now I buy it because it's the best. And I have tried plenty others.

Here's how you do it:

Shredded BBQ Pork Sandwiches

Ingredients:
3-4 pound pork butt (buy big and plan for extremely delicious leftovers)
About 1 cup (an 8-ounce box) of broth (chicken, vegetable, beef, water + bouillon, or whatever)
Your favorite dry spice rub (I use Rub with Love Pork Rub by Tom Douglas)
Annie's Naturals Organic BBQ, Original Recipe, 12-ounce bottle
Package of organic whole wheat hamburger buns

Directions:
1. Rub plenty of dry rub on all sides of the pork.

2. Place it in the slow cooker with the broth.

3. Cook about 4-5 hours on high, or 8-10 on low. It tastes the same either way. Just cook it till it shreds easily with a fork.

4. Remove pork to an oven-safe dish in which you can shred it. I remove all the enormous chunks of fat, but some people leave some in for flavor.

5. Pour the WHOLE bottle of Annie's sauce on the shredded pork and stir it up.

6. Bake in a pre-heated 350-degree oven for 20 or 30 minutes to cook in the sauce and let the pork absorb it. Add dollops of cooking broth if pork gets dry-seeming. It shouldn't though. Sometimes I add a little cooking broth just to keep it extra juicy.

7. Put a heaping stack of pork on a bun and top with more sauce if desired. That means you have to have another bottle handy, because you need all of one for step 6. And truly, do stack it high, because it would be a shame to taste bun more than pork.

Really, this dish could be considered healthy, right? I mean it has organic whole-wheat buns. And Annie's products are all-natural. This sauce is organic and even vegan...course, the concept of a vegan sauce on shredded pork is not lost on me. I appreciate the contrast and all. And while I do enjoy my home-made French fries, they are easily replaced by more figure-friendly sides like potato salad, cole slaw, baked sweet-potato fries, bakes beans, etc.

--Sweet B

Image courtesy of http://sungkang.com/comfort-food-pork-sandwich/

Quesadillas And Nachos Are Fresh, Hot, Healthy, Easy Go-To Meals for Kids

The first post I ever wrote on here was about tacos and how the old greasy recipe from my childhood days has been transformed by many into ones choc full 'o veggies and healthy stuff. We are still rocking that taco recipe once a week because my kids love them and because leftovers provide lunches for a couple days. I've even used it for wining and dining other families, creating a big fixins bar with sides of rice and beans, as well as fresh guacamole and salsa. All kids love to build their own. I urge you try it. Made with ground turkey, they're comparatively lighter and so flavorful.

But I digress. I'm here to talk about the quesadillas and nachos made from the taco leftovers. Trying to create another round of tacos from the leftovers will bring you up short. But you can get several quesadillas or platters of nachos out of what's left, especially if you double the original taco recipe. Quesadillas brown quickly in a hot skillet and are easy to pack for school lunches, work lunches, or pic-nics. I swear, I haven't yet met a kid who wouldn't eat my taco quesadillas. Even two or three hours out of the pan.

Taco Quesadillas: They're easy to make. Just spread some taco meat mixture over a tortilla. I use whole wheat tortillas just to kick it up a notch and get a whole grain into the mouths of my babes. Grate or thinly slice the cheese of your choice over the meat mixture. Spoon on a little salsa if you like, but not too much, because you don't want the quesadillas to be wet and limp. They should be thin and crisp on the outside. To that end, don't spoon too much of anything into them. If they're too thick, they won't hold together and they'll be a mess in kids' hands. So keep the filling light. Top with another tortilla and pop it into a hot oiled skillet. Flip it when the bottom is browned and brown the other side. If they're too thick, they won't flip easily because everything will slop out the sides. BUT, if some cheese does melt out the side and brown on the pan, it makes an extra yummy crunchy bite. I purposely squish some cheese out to create some burnt cheese edge. Mmmmmm.

Slide the quesadilla out of the pan, cool, and cut into wedges. Spread guacamole on it to serve as a "glue" for holding shredded lettuce on top. This way, the lettuce won't roll off when you pick up a wedge. Dip it into salsa or eat it straight. Dice up some jalapenos or whatever your pleasure. The basic quesadilla with meat and cheese satisfies kids, but it's so easy to start with a basic and dress it up for adults.

Microwave Taco Nachos: Spread tortilla chips in a single layer over a microwave-safe plate. Drop bits of leftover taco meat mixture around over the chips. Grate the cheese of your choice on top, and spoon dollops of salsa on top of that. Microwave for 30 seconds and check the cheese. If it's melty to your satisfaction, then eat. Otherwise, microwave it in 30-second increments till it's like you like it. Use basics for kids, or add jalapenos, onions, beans, sour cream or whatever you like for the adults.

* Note to yourselves on tortilla chips: The best ones on Earth are Juanita's. Which you can get delivered to your door via Amazon Fresh. Coincidentally, Juanita's are also the least expensive. I originally bought them for that reason, but have never looked back because they are so good. And whenever I serve them, people ALWAYS compliment them. "Mmmm. These are better than restaurant ones."

--Sweet B

Fremont Brewing Company...Because Beer Matters

Ok, ok, you know how sometimes you're so excited to tell about something, your mind races too far ahead of your words and you end up sounding like a hyperventilating kid who has just received the very toy he wanted but hasn't yet opened the package? This is where I am. About to rip into the package. My new toy is a growler of Universale Pale Ale from Fremont Brewing Company. Mmmm, yes. It's that good.

I better start with the basics: Matt Lincecum and Sara Nelson, married co-owners, opened the FBC because, as Matt says, beer matters. And if you're going to make it, it should be the best beer, made in the best way possible. If you want (nay, need) to experience this first hand, go to Fremont and taste it. See for yourselves and talk to Matt and Sara.

You can drink their beer on-site every Thursday, Friday, and Saturday evenings at the Urban Beer Garden, furnished with several tables and even some toys. Yes, toys. You can bring your kids or your dogs and go beer tasting, as if you were in Europe. While they don't serve food at FBC, they do provide free pretzels and doggie treats and they don't mind if you bring your own food. Make PBJs, order a pizza for delivery, or bring takeout. Menus from Fremont eateries are provided. Matt doesn't want to be in food service, nor does he want to compete with pubs and restaurants who serve his beer. So he just says bring the family by with a pic-nic, if you like, and drink some tasty, Earth-friendly beer right in the spot where it's brewed.

To avoid cutting and pasting their entire awesome website right into this article, I will instead encourage you to really read through it on your own. It thoroughly covers how this brewery is walkin' the walk of sustainability and community building. And their "Brewer's Blog" is a great read on what it has been like to build a business from scratch during a real bum-thumping economic slump. Seriously. Do YOU know  how to start a brewery? You can track the progress from a beer brainstorm in July of 2008, all they way through finding space, construction, purchase of giant tanks, hops shopping trips, right up to this week's "Art and Politics" post. It's not a dry (get it?) read either. It comes off like real folks writin’ ‘bout what it's like. Because that is what it is. I really feel for and admire them, taking a risk and throwing themselves into this endeavor. You may have thought it was just a cute tag that says "Beer Matters," but when you meet Matt and Sara, see their two little boys running around the brewery, and read their material, you really realize it does matter.

Plus the beer is good and affordable. We bought a growler (a half-gallon glass jug) for $15, but only pay $8 every time we bring our jug back for a refill. You can't get that much good micro-brew anywhere else for $8. The Urban Beer Garden offers six brews on tap, including their regulars available at bars around town and small-batch specialty beers – recipes they’re experimenting with or serving for special occasions.

Here is the current beer menu:

1. Universale Pale Ale: Fremont is the self-proclaimed “Center of the Universe” and Universale, our flagship product, honors the namesake of our unique location. Universale Pale Ale offers a distinctive Northwest twist on the classic pale ale, using a select blend of organic Gambrinus pale roasted malt and
Old World malts balanced with classic Northwest hops to achieve a heavenly beer of rich malt flavor and subtle hop spice. This is beer. Enjoy.

Down and Dirty: Organic 2-row barley, organic crystal malt, melanoidin, aromatic malt, columbus, centennial and cascade hops. 5.2% ABV

2. Interurban India Pale Ale: Named after Fremont’s most famous outdoor sculpture, Waiting for the Interurban, Interurban India Pale Ale offers the adventurous beer lover a warm embrace of organic Gambrinus roasted pale malt swirled with a hand-selected blend of flavor malts and filled with the rich spice of Chinook, Centennial and Cascade hops. Interurban India Pale is a session beer, eminently drinkable throughout the year.

Down and Dirty: Organic 2-row barley, organic crystal malt, organic munich malt, aromatic malt, chinook and cascade hops. 6.5% ABV

3. Abominable Winter Ale: tasty winter ale, limited release. Dark, roasty, chocolatey, malt flavors balanced by Noble hop aroma and subtle hoppy spice. Warm up to it. Don't be Scared to be Abominable.

Down and Dirty: Organic 2-row barley, chocolate malt, roast barley, carafa, centennial, willamette and golding hops. 7.5% ABV

4. Little Woody: this is what happens when you think about beer too much. Take our Universale Pale Ale, age it on medium-toast American White Oak, dryhop with Chinook hops and wait until the magic happens. Have you had a Little Woody lately?

Down and Dirty: Organic 2-row barley, organic crystal malt, melanoidin, aromatic malt, american white oak, columbus, centennial, chinook and cascade hops. 5.2% ABV

5. Small Batch Artisan Wonderbeer: Come to the Urban Beer Garden for a taste of our special beers, available only at the brewery. Occasionally, some of these beers are so well-received that they escape the UBG and make it into select pubs and restaurants (Amarillo 'One' Ale anyone?).

Thirsty?

Fremont Brewing Company: 3409 Woodland Park Avenue North, Seattle, 98103, EARTH

Urban Beer Garden hours:
Thursday - Saturday, 4:00 - 8:30-ish

Retail hours for sales of growlers and kegs:
Monday - Friday, 11:00 - 5:00
Saturday, Noon - 8:30

www.fremontbrewing.com

Phone: 206-420-2407

Email: info@fremontbrewing.com

And for total beer geeks: Twitter: @fremontbrewing

--Sweet B

Sweet Iron Brings Authentic Belgian Waffles to Seattle

Have you been to Sweet Iron downtown yet for waffles? Most people are surprised to learn we have such a place in Seattle. It's true, and you should get there to eat some, pronto. When she was a little girl, the owner, Adrienne Jeffrey, used to live in Belgium, where the superior waffles obviously left an impression on her. I'm glad she noticed a dearth of the authentic stuff here in Seattle and brought some to us.

Not made from a runny batter, these waffles begin as a brioche-style dough. And they have caramelized bits of pearl sugar on the outside, giving them the yummiest crust ever. Apparently, this is one thing that distinguishes the Liege waffle from the Brussels style. Sweet Iron serves true Liege waffles and they're made to order. Reviews on Yelp indicate that the people are mad for their perfect waffle-iciousness and for all the flavors offered. Not that there's anything wrong with a plain Liege waffle, but they go and take that basic perfection and top it with chocolate, whipped cream, and berries. Or with bacon, basil, and brie. Both sweet and savory options are on the menu, and I like both served with their delicious Stumptown Roasters coffee. Stumptown's Holler Mountain Blend made me a loyalist awhile back, so I was delighted to learn they serve Stumptown at Sweet Iron. And that brings up another point. Sweet Iron uses local Northwest ingredients like Stumptown coffee AND they pay attention to sustainability. Us Seattle-ites and Pacific Northwesterners carry our green-ness with pride and Sweet Iron does its part. Besides supporting local organic farmers, they also use compostable packaging and utensils. I like that.

I also like their urban-chic space, designed by Jeroen Teeuw from the Seattle architecture firm, Gensler, and located on 3rd Ave. between Seneca and University. All the down-townies are getting first dibs at these goods, but I heard a rumor that if business booms, Sweet Iron might open other locations around town. Mamas and papas will want to pay close attention to that detail. We need more Sweet Iron Waffles.

Sweet Iron Waffles, 1200 Third Ave, Suite 110

Open 7 days a week 
MON - FRI: 7AM - 6PM
SAT & SUN: 9AM - 4P

206-682-3336

A Pox Upon My Cookies! Help, They're Flat!

For many days over the course of a year, I baked perfect cookies. And then one day, I did not. And every day thereafter, I did not. What happened in between the days? I've done all I know how to figure it out. Last year, I posted a perfect little recipe for Whole Wheat Chocolate Chip Cookies that people seemed to love. I whipped those cookies up early and often. Then, a couple weeks ago, they started going flat on me. And, oddly, it was a slow process. First, just their edges cracked and were flat-ish, but they still had a relatively high and cakey middle. Then with the next batch, the edges started cracking and turning way too dark, despite my cooking on a Silpat sheet, which supposedly never burns cookies. So what the hay?! I turned to the internet, where there were many thousands of postings on the flat cookie problem. Answers from experts were exactly as I had predicted. Most likely a butter thing. Suggestions led me to believe the butter was melting and the dough running and spreading out flat before the cookies' edges had time to set. The dough needed to be properly chilled before baking. Nevermind the fact that I had never ever before needed to chill this dough before baking. I figured that was the problem now. So I made up some dough and chilled it. It was rock hard. I baked. They were flatter than EVER before. I lowered the temp of the oven since they also seemed to be burning on bottom now, even with a Silpat. Nevermind I had never lowered the temp before. Anyway, they still flattened. I basically ended up having to pull them out when they were so extremely raw that I couldn't scoop them out of the pan. It was the only way I could keep them from running completely flat and burning on bottom.

Do you know how many batches of dough I've made by this point? How many sticks of butter, cups of flour, etc., trying to figure this out. I have been determined to once again bake the cookies I had baked for a year before the curse set in. Each time, I try to "fix" something different. Next I ditched the Silpat, thinking maybe it had lost its, whatever, Silpatyness. I used parchment paper. What this accomplished was to show me just how much butter I was losing in the baking process. It was running very yellow all over the pan. WHY??!! OH WHY ME, YE WIZARDS OF COOKIE MAKING??!!

Back to the drawing board. What had I done differently? I had started rolling the dough into logs like you might find at the store so I could cut perfectly sized cookies every time. AHA! That must be the problem. I'm overworking the dough. I whipped up another batch and stopped touching it when the dough came together in the bowl. I scooped it with a spoon and never touched it with my hands. (Nevermind that I had rolled and cut the dough many times before without ending up with flat cookies. I ignored that in the name of this mad science.) THIS time it would work. Nope. Flat cookies. I beat the butter, sugar, egg and vanilla very very well together in the first step. Flat cookies. I didn't beat them so well together. Flat cookies. I let the butter get very soft. Flat cookies. I kept the butter very chilled. Flat cookies.

Why, in the name of all that is good about cookies, can't I bake them now? What has happened? A pox on my house? Listen, I was a person who softened the butter by putting in the microwave, rolling the dough into logs or not, leaving the dough out on the counter for an hour while I put people down for naps, etc., and my cookies always came out the same, cakey, wonderful, doughy cookies I intended. Until one day they did not, and now no matter what I do, the good cookies won't return. I am so truly baffled, I cannot do anything but beg an expert to tell me what to do. I promise you people, I have not changed anything, until I started changing everything in an effort to figure this out.

Is it my pans? My ovens? ARRRRRGGGHHHHH!!!!!!!!!

--Sweet B

copyrighted photo of flat cookie courtesy of The Repressed Pastry Chef at I Really Like Food dot com.

Families, Seattle Citizens Beware: Uptown Espresso Refuses Restroom to Paying Customers

Somebody check me on this: There's what's known as a bad business plan and then there's what they have going on at Uptown Espresso on Alaskan Way. They have what I think is an abominable, horrific, rude, short-sighted and dang near abusive business plan. Here's how it works: They sell customers an expensive diuretic and then refuse to let them use the restroom. Sound like a money maker?

Locals and visitors who enjoy Seattle's beautiful sculpture park and waterfront walkway need a fair warning: "Stopping In" at Uptown can "Stop You Up." Located beside artist Louise Bourgeois' fountain "Father and Son," the coffee shop has been a place I've enjoyed going with my boys after a day spent in the park. We buy treats for the boys and a much-needed latte for me and sit out at their sidewalk table to enjoy it all. But today they put an end to my business by refusing to allow me to use the restroom despite my status as a customer. The unbelievable exchange went like this:

Me: Hi! Can I get your restroom key?
Barista: I'm sorry, we don't have a restroom.
Me:...I'm sorry, you don't... ...you don't HAVE a restroom?
Barista: No. We don't.
Me (pointing at restroom door): But I've used the restroom here. It's right there.
Barista: Oh, well, see, we just don't allow people to use it.
Me (sounding admittedly slow-witted): You....just don't allow people to use the restroom?
Barista: See, we just have too many people stopping in just to use the bathroom.
Me: Oh, but no, I'm a paying customer!
Barista: Sorry.
Me: What?
Barista (pointing): I'm sorry. There's a bathroom up at the top of the sculpture garden about a block away, up there...
Me: What? You don't let paying customers use the bathroom in here?
Barista: We just can't do that anymore, there's too many people just stopping in to use the bathroom.
Me: But...I'm not...nevermind. Come on boys, I will never spend another dime here.

One customer followed me and my boys out, confused as I was, asking me where she might find the bathroom the barista pointed to. I pointed up the hill, then began the tedious, time-consuming task of reloading babies in jackets, strapping Bjorns, loading pack and stroller when another customer from the line came out and called to me from the open door, in ear shot of everyone: "Hi Miss! If you can wait just half a minute I'll take you upstairs where I have a bathroom." Good citizen though she was, I had already reloaded everyone and couldn't face unloading to climb stairs, find safe side-walk parking for the double stroller, etc. I thanked her and just beat it up the hill.

Some of you may wonder whether my children were the cause of our being refused. Let me put that theory to rest. Because cookies and muffins were at stake, they were angels. The placid baby was gurgling from the Bjorn, and the older ones flanked my sides, quietly kissing my hips every now and again just to keep me properly greased for treat buying. They never spoke a word.

Isn't that something? What would you have done if you were me? Do you even give a dang?

--Sweet B

Salad Dippers! (Exclamation Point Must Be Included)

I'm back! Remember me? No? Why not? My posts were so mind-blowingly good that I earned an international fan base, with folks on every continent making their own "Beet Week" T-shirts in my honor, with my recipe and photos of beet pancakes on the back. (If I recall correctly, one reader politely intoned, "Why do these pancakes look like bloody hamburgers?" But my personal-time all favorite was the response to my recipe for chili with beets: "I thought you guys are supposed to be knowlegable. Damn.")

Anyway, that's me. After all this time. No more "knowlegable" but with a third son in tow. His older brothers, Squashcake and Squishpie, are calling him Sugar Bun. Yep, three boys. Can you do a rapid calculation of the number of boxes of cereal to be eaten at each breakfast when they're teens? I can. When it comes to groceries, I'm not ignoring the early warning signs for Lite Wallet Syndrome.

But for now, they're just little boys, 5, 3, and 6 months. So most of the time I can manage to create enough food to portion out to them, though I see real changes in that fact already beginning. The older one comes home from kindergarten famished and eats like a machine until I cut him off an hour before dinner. This is the kid of mine who will eat just about anything you'd think he wouldn't and nothing you'd think he would. No cheese, no ham, but please can I eat all the skins you peeled off the fruit that my younger brother won't eat? He's like that. And his very most favorite thing to eat is a salad with smoked salmon in it. Now you ought to see the faces the younger one can pull when offered salad. No. Can. Do. Salad.

BUT

I found out the 3-year-old will eat "Salad Dippers." See, it's all in the name my friends. And this is supported by real science. What happened was, I had too paltry a number of ingredients for a bona fide salad one evening, so I decided to set out some nice Romaine leaves, a few carrots sliced wee, and the last remnant of a red pepper. I put it all onto a plate in three separate piles and set it in the middle of the table. My big piece de resistance was to set out a tiny container for salad dressing at each setting. When the inevitable whine, "What's for dinnerrrrrrrrrrr" came, I thought quick. "Pasta, meatballs, and... SALAD DIPPERS!" Well this created a stir, let me tell you. Hands were flying, things were getting dipped. We made "Tiny Veggie Wraps" and "Lettuce Burritos," putting the pepper and carrot slivers onto Romaine canoes and floating them in our own dressing. Suddenly, the 5-year-old hollered "He ate a carrot!" and pointed at his brother. I just about fell out. He did eat that carrot. And several more, too. Plus, now he likes EVERYTHING dipped in ranch dressing.

I swear, it's so corny I just about can't stand it. Why does a thing like that work? It shouldn't. Why couldn't I just call it what the fancy French do--cru d'ete? Frankly, I think it's because little boys like verbs. Anyway. Try it out. Might work at your house.

--Sweet B

Pancakes and Pickled Onions

No, not at the same time. That would be awful. (Maybe...) But this is just a little post to share two completely different foodie things I've come to appreciate this week.

The first is a recipe for Whole Wheat Pancakes. Since I've been working extremely hard (and successfully!) to cut the grocery bill, I've cut out ready-made foods from the grocery store. Foods like toaster waffles, frozen bagged sweet potato fries, or pancake mix in a bag or box. I figured, I've got my own sweet potatoes, my own flour, eggs, etc., I can make them from scratch and feel somehow more authentic anyway, right?

(An aside about pancakes: Did you ever bristle, even slightly, when you read about or heard some celebrity claim to make great pancakes? Not a celebrity chef, but just a regular Hollywood celebrity? It's weird, I know, but I always cringed when I partook of some tabloid popcandy and read a quote from a rich, beautiful millionaire adoring his/her spouse because he/she makes "the world's best pancakes" for their special family weekend breakfasts. I always thought, But they're pancakes!...Any monkey can make them...)

Well, folks, here's your monkey for today. It's me, with the world's simplest, yet WONDERFUL little whole wheat pancake recipe. I don't know why they are so good. They just are. And like any monkey, I like bananas in mine. Unless I've run out, I ALWAYS mash and puree two bananas to mix into the batter. This makes them moist, sweeter, and lets the flavor run all through, instead of getting a clump of banana here and there. But here's the basic recipe and you can just go to town on your own add-ins. I found the recipe on this weird little website called Make Healthy Meals by Googling, and the reader responses are all really great, so check those out if you visit the website.

Whole Wheat Pancakes

Ingredients:
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 tablespoon common granulated sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 egg, slightly beaten
1 cup milk
2 tablespoons oil

Directions:
1. Mix wet and dry ingredients separately, then together.
2. Pour pancakes into a butter- or oil-greased skillet over medium heat and cook on both sides until done.

Here are some add-in suggestions in any combo you like: Blueberries, chocolate chips (so yummy with the pureed bananas!), grated apple, cinnamon, pureed butternut squash, sweet potatoes, strawberries...

My next foodie appreciation for the week came in my current July/August issue of Cook's Illustrated. You know how up front they have that "Quick Tips" section? One of their readers (Diane Talts) wrote in with what I think is a brilliant idea. When you finish with a jar of pickles, save the juice and add thinly sliced onions to it. Let the onions marinate for a few days right in the pickle jar, and then use them as condiments for burgers, hot dogs, and whatever. Neat!

--Sweet B

Play All Day Till Dinnertime and Still Eat Well with Spaghettini with Checca Sauce

Longer days and warm weather give me much more time to wear my sons out, so they're more likely to fall asleep in the vicinity of bedtime. That I love. But sometimes it feels unfair to have to either cut all our time outdoors short, or just cut my time with the gang short, so that I can go and get dinner started. I want to stay out till the last possible minute, too. But if I do that, then I'm so exhausted (an obvious byproduct of working exhaustively to exhaust little ones) that I can't bear to think of myself as responsible for everyone's dinner. The whining starts in my head. Why me? Why do I always have to cook for you people? Can't we just have cereal again? Etc. Well thank you, thank you, thank you to Giada De Laurentiis for "Spaghettini with Checca Sauce." This little recipe is so easy that we can all go out and stay as long as we want, and I'll have it ready before my whiny thoughts clog my brain. If you have other Summer recipes like this one with minimal prep time (this one is 8 minutes) I'd love to hear about them.

I don't know which, if any, of Giada's cookbooks has this recipe. I got this recipe on the Food Network site, and they have little "tagged" words that, when moused over, give you the option to print coupons for certain grocery items. Sweet! But the cookbook pictured above has some pretty awesome recipes in it, too. Click it. Read the customer reviews.

--Sweet B

Spaghettini with Checca Sauce

Ingredients:
8 ounces spaghettini or angel hair pasta
4 scallions (white and pale green parts only), coarsely chopped
3 garlic cloves, crushed
12-ounce container cherry tomatoes, halved
1-ounce piece Parmesan, coarsely chopped
8 to 10 fresh basil leaves
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
3 tablespoons olive oil
4 ounces fresh mozzarella cheese, cut into 1/2-inch cubes

Directions:
1. Cook the pasta in a large ot of boiling salted water until al dente, tender but still firm to the bite, stirring often, about 8 minutes.

2. Meanwhile, combine the next 7 ingredients in a food processor. Pulse just until the tomatoes are coarsely chopped (do not puree).

3. Drain the pasta, reserving some of the pasta water. Toss the pasta with the tomato mixture and fresh mozzarella in a large bowl. Add some of the reserved pasta water (about 1/4 cup) if the sauce looks dry. Serve immediately.

Katie Lee Joel's Memorial Day Burgers with Bourbon Slush

Memorial Day is just around the corner. Have you got your menu dialed in? Usually everyone breaks out the grill in anticipation of a backyard barbecue, but what if it rains? Always a possibility for Seattle. In a recent issue of People magazine, Katie Lee Joel, aka Mrs. Billy Joel, offered a recipe for her prize-winning Logan County Burger that doesn't require a grill, as well as a yummy-sounding cocktail called Bourbon Slush. Apparently, Mrs. Joel is a respected chef, food critic, and cookbook author. Who knew? (You all probably did. I didn't.)

At last fall's New York Wine and Food Festival, Katie Lee won top honor at the Burger Bash contest with this recipe. And now there's talk of her opening a restaurant that serves the fare of her West Virginian home-grown roots.

People magazine lists this menu as costing $4.70 per person.

Logan County Burger
Serves 6

Ingredients:
1 lb. ground beef (85%) lean
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1 medium yellow onion, half grated, the other half thinly sliced
1/4 tsp. garlic powder
1 tsp. kosher salt
1 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
12 slices of white bread
2 tbsp. unsalted butter, softened
12 slices American cheese

Directions:
1. In a bowl, combine beef, egg, grated onion, garlic powder, salt and pepper. Form thin patties. Spread butter on one side of each slice of bread.

2. Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Cook the burgers about 3 minutes on each side. Drain on paper towels. Drain grease from the skillet.

3. In the same skillet, place six slices of bread, butter side down. Top each with a slice of cheese, some onions and a burger. Top with remaining slices of cheese and bread, butter side up. Cook each sandwich until golden brown, about 2 minutes per side.

Bourbon Slush
Serves 10

Ingredients:
3 cups bourbon
24 oz. frozen lemonade concentrate, thawed
12 oz. frozen orange juice concentrate, thawed
4 cups strong brewed tea

Directions:
In a 1-1/2-gallon pitcher, mix bourbon, juices and tea. Stir in 3 quarts water. Place in freezer. Stir after 8 hours. Continue to freeze for 2 hours more, and up to 2 days. Defrost 30 minutes before serving. Stir and serve in a mason jar.

--Sweet B

Beard Finalists, Tom Colicchio and Suzanne Goin, Share Meatloaf and Mushroom Frittata Recipes

At an upscale restaurant in Scotland, my crazy husband ordered haggis. Everyone told him that was like scoring a seat at Mario Batali's table and ordering a hot dog. Of course he reasoned that if one wants the best hot dog in the world, why wouldn't one order it from Mario Batali? Besides, one apparently can't get authentic haggis in the U.S. since the USDA has declared it "unfit for human consumption" and since it's illegal to sell sheep lungs here. (Whew. Sigh of relief. I bet I'd be asked to make it at home.)

For some reason, it strikes me that getting a meatloaf recipe from a Beard finalist is sort of like his ordering haggis. But a great meatloaf recipe is so truly satisfying. Especially for me with a side of mashed potatoes and little petite sweet green peas. And don't forget next-day meatloaf sammys! So with that in mind, here's the famed Tom Colicchio's meatloaf. And it supposedly serves four for under $10.

Tom Colicchio's Meatloaf

Ingredients:

1/2 medium yellow onion, diced
1 tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil
1 garlic clove, minced
2 lbs. ground beef (85% lean)
2 large eggs
3/4 cup fresh bread crumbs
1 tbsp. chopped fresh oregano, or 1/2 tbsp. dried oregano
2 tbsp. Dijon mustard
2 tsp. kosher salt
1 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
2 tbsp. ketchup

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. In a skillet over medium heat, saute the onion in the oil until golden. Add the garlic and saute for 1 to 2 minutes (be careful not to burn the garlic). Remove from heat and set aside to cool.

3. In a bowl, combine beef, eggs, onion, bread crumbs, oregano, mustard, salt and pepper. Form a loaf (approximately 7 x 5 x 3 in. in size) and place it in a roasting pan. Cover the loaf evenly with the ketchup. Bake loaf for about 1 hour, until it reaches an internal temperature of 145 degrees. Remove and allow to rest slightly, then cut into 1/2-in. slices.

Keep reading to get Suzanne Goin's Mushroom Frittata recipe, which also serves four for under $10.

--Sweet B

(photo courtesy of tomcolicchio.net)

Beard Award's Outstanding Chef Winner Dan Barber's Kale Salad

Here's a recipe from the guy who took a top honor at last night's Beard Awards (aka the Oscars of food). Outstanding Chef 2009 winner, Dan Barber, submitted "Kale Salad with Pine Nuts, Currants and Parmesan" to this week's People Magazine for the "Meals For Four Under $10" in its "Great Ideas" section.

Kale Salad with Pine Nuts, Currants, and Parmesan

Ingredients:
2 tbsp. dried currants
7 tbsp. white balsamic vinegar, divided
1 tbsp. unseasoned rice vinegar
1 tbsp. honey
1 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
1 tsp. salt
2 bunches Tuscan kale (about 1 lb.) with center ribs and stems removed, leaves thinly sliced cross-wise. (Be sure to choose kale with small leaves, which are more tender.)
2 tbsp. pine nuts, lightly toasted
Parmesan cheese shavings

Directions:
1. Place currants in small bowl; add 5 tbsp. white balsamic vinegar. Let soak overnight. Then drain currants.

2. Whisk remaining 2 tbsp. white balsamic vinegar, rice vinegar, honey, oil, and salt in large bowl. Add kale, currants and pine nuts; toss to coat. Let marinate for 20 minutes at room temperature, tossing occasionally. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

3. Sprinkle Parmesan cheese shavings over salad and serve.

I'm skeptical folks. One gander at that ingredient list signals way over $10 to me. Am I wrong? The pine nuts alone might put you over, unless you bought them in the bulk section and measured out exactly 2 tablespoons, but then a good hunk of Parmesan cheese on top of that would for sure put you over. I'm thinking that since it's "shaved," he doesn't want you using store brand in a can. And either you have those bottles of vinegar already in your pantry, or you're borrowing tablespoons from your neighbor who does.

I'm not saying this is a bad recipe. On the contrary, it sounds like it would taste quite good. But I'm not sure it's an Under $10 deal. Maybe he means that at his New York restaurant, Blue Hill, you can order it off the menu for under $10.

--Sweet B

(photo courtesy of bonappetit.com)

Emeril's Dinner for Four Under $10

People magazine printed another of those "Dinner for Four Under $10" ideas. This week, it's from Emeril Lagasse. The recipe is for Chicken Thighs with Brazilian "Vinaigrette" Salsa. It seems easy enough and, best of all, you can look at it and read through it without a studio audience clapping and clapping every time he does something as simple as add salt to the food.

Two interesting things about chicken thighs. One, a butcher once told me that it's the easiest meat to cook for inexperienced chefs, since it's a much harder cut of meat to dry out. It will still be juicy if you forget and overcook it. Second, I didn't even know you could leave the skin on a thigh, but remove the bone, as Emeril calls for. That's some fancy carpentry at the meat counter.

At one point in the directions, he has you putting the chicken on the "grill." At another, he has you removing it from "the pan." I'm thinking he must mean an indoor grill pan.

Ingredients:

8 chicken thighs, skin on and bones removed
2 tsp course sea salt
6 tbs. butter, melted
2 tbs garlic, minced
1 tsp. bay leaf, ground
1 cup tomato, peeled, seeded, and diced
1/2 cup red bell pepper, diced
1/2 cup green bell pepper, diced
3 tbs. white wine vinegar
3-4 tbs. olive oil
salt and freshly ground black pepper

Directions:

1. Season chicken with salt (have your family clap a lot here).

2. In a small bowl, combine butter, garlic and bay leaf.

3. Place the chicken skin-side down on the grill and brush with the butter-garlic blend. Cook for seven minutes, turn over, and baste with more of the butter mixture. Continue to cook for another seven minutes, turn back to the skin side and cook for seven minutes more. Turn over one last time and cook until a thermometer inserted into the deepest portion of the thigh registers 160 degrees to 165 degrees (about 7 minutes longer). Remove from pan. Serves four to six.

4. For the Brazilian vinaigrette salsa, combine diced tomato, red and green bell peppers, white wine vinegar, olive oil and salt and pepper in a medium bowl and stir well. Allow it to sit at room temperature for at least an hour before serving.

--Sweet B

photo courtesy of New York Times.

Cutting The Grocery Bill--How?

I'm reporting success this week with my attempts to drastically cut the grocery bill. I cut ours by more than half and we made it (almost) all the way through to today, the day of the next big shop for the week. All in all, I spent an extra $20.50, which may not seem so great to you. My "failures": I spent $3 at the divinely-inspired Krispy Kreme drive-through (don't ask, I just got a vision and followed through on it as the spirits were advising me--you would totally have bought those donuts, too). I also spent an extra $3 at Dick's Drive In, when my husband looked positively forlorn about a lack of Root Beer, and so since he got the RB, I got a Coke. My first Coke in ages! It was great! (And yet the baby kicked all night and I couldn't sleep.) The point is, we could have eaten for $12 instead of $15 by sticking to water. I spent $6 on "emergency" lattes from Starbucks the morning after we ran out of coffee, and $8.50 at Safeway when I failed to buy two key ingredients for taco night. (See my very first ever post for a healthy way to make tacos.) At that point, we were out of milk, juice, and coffee as well. That was Thursday, and we had two days to go until I was supposed to buy more food. But when faced with drinking only water for the next 2-1/2 days for all of us, I broke and bought more milk and juice and a mini bag of coffee. But for the juice, I bought frozen concentrate instead of a ready-made jug or carton. It was a third of the price of ready-made juice. Course, I realized when I got home that my only remaining pitcher had been confiscated and left in the sandbox outside all winter. So there is literally a bucket of OJ in my fridge right now. But so what? I ain't so different from you am I? With my pitcher in the yard and bucket in the fridge?

Frankly, I thought I was going to make all this big effort, then crack on the 2nd or 3rd day and splurge on a bunch of ready-made stuff, or eat out at every meal and then crumple in a heap and cry every night over my failure and because we're going broke during the recession, with another baby on the way. (We are not quite living the lyrics of every hard-luck country song, but it feels like it could go that way sometimes. Ever hear Fancy by Reba McEntire, or Poor Man's House by Patty Griffin? Lord have mercy.) Likely as it was for me to fail and crumple this week, it didn't turn out that way.

I've been talking this whole thing up with my girlfriends as we gathered on various playgrounds and in the preschool lobby, and I got some comments that made me feel much better. A couple of mothers I know said, "Oh, I try that, but then when I try to stick to a plan of such limited choices, I get really fickle and think 'I don't want to eat that for lunch or dinner,' so then it doesn't work."  It made me feel better that I wasn't the only one who felt that way. None of us wants to be limited so much. It's like dieting. As soon as there are strict rules in place, we explode in a manic fury of breaking them. So how does one do it?

First, I think when it comes to saving money, necessity plays a big role in motivation. Don't cry. Don't crumple. Just do it. And forgive yourself the small stuff, like responding to the "Hot Fresh" sign when you drive past Krispy Kreme. Next, don't be silly about your menu choices. I planned a menu full of stuff I knew we loved already, and figured out how to make them cheaper. I took a couple chances, like on the take-out joint we never tried before and on Cat Cora's chicken recipe, but both were winners. I lucked out. Last, I cut out every single ready-made item at the grocery store. I didn't buy the yummy organic flax toaster waffles from Whole Foods, nor Amy's Organic Toaster Pastries, nor did I buy the ready-made multi-grain pancake mix. Stocked with my bag of Bob's Red Mill Whole Wheat Flour, I was armed to make pancakes, muffins, and waffles from scratch. And it was easy! And they were yummy! Also, you already know I bought no produce at Whole Foods. Remember the old joke where everybody calls them "Whole Paycheck." That was true for me. Not funny. So I bought all my fruits and veggies for the week at a local produce stand two blocks away and saved a bundle. I was able to shop at Whole Paycheck, buying the store brand everywhere possible, and still feel comfortable with the healthiness of my choices. I probably could buy things cheaper at a different grocery store, but I find that trying to buy the organic things at a regular grocery chain triples the grocery bill! Do you find that? So I balanced out what's important to me and managed to shop where I wanted and got things we liked and were good for us.

One thing I realize though, is that it's impossible to stay at or under an exact amount every week. For example, we still had big jars of peanut butter and jam, so I didn't need to buy them, but now we're out. Also, we had plenty of soap, shampoo, dishwasher and laundry detergent, etc. But I can see how there will sometimes be giant spending when stocking up on staples, but then lesser spending in later weeks. I guess we'll have to do a monthly average over time to achieve our weekly/monthly goal.

I can leave you with one thing that makes me feel really good about this week. It's fun to run out of everything. It's really neat to see an actual empty cupboard and fridge shelves. It feels good to consume everything you've bought, down to the last grape, with no waste and nothing left over.

--Sweet B

Seattle's New "Square Meal" Take-Out Joint is Pretty Good

Pricewise, there's no guesswork. It is exactly as advertised everywhere: Meat and 2 Sides for $7.99. And if you pass up one of their homemade desserts, it will stay that way. So having figured this place in to the weekly budget for feeding the family without ever having tried it, I was pleased that there were no money surprises and that it was good food.

The Argentinian owner is careful to smile a lot, but really pierces with his eyes. Maybe because we pulled up and asked for a bathroom first thing, since my son was hopping up and down and practically crying for one when we got there. Maybe the owner was concerned we were lost and just looking for a bathroom. I guess we are pretty suspicious on first glance. Anyway, having surveyed his restroom first thing, I can attest to the fact that, also as advertised, this is NOT a restaurant. It really is just for takeout or for eating at the Pic-Nic Table nestled under their front awning. The two flyers we received also say that delivery is FREE within the neighborhood. So again, an even better deal for people who live in Pinehurst, or can convince him that you're close enough.

The were many food choices, all steaming in the lunchroom-counter set-up. For the boys we got Meatballs in Maranara, with Baked Ziti and Stir-Fried Veggies. And for the grown-ups to share, we got Beef Bourguinon, herb-roasted potatoes, and a side of Brazilian Casava, because I just really wanted to try it. The owner told me it was "Yuca root, kind of like potatoes." Wikipedia says, "Cassava is the third largest source of carbohydrates for human food in the world, with Africa its largest center of production. The flour made of the roots is called tapioca." (So that's where tapioca comes from.) Well two patato-ey choices with beef was maybe not the grandest assortment, but hey. Lots of meat and potatoes. Ok.  I wanted to try it and it was good.

Other meat choices included Down Home BBQ Pork, Curry Coconut Chicken, Filet of Sole "Espanola," and Hawaiian Pork. Sides include, Rice & Orzo Pilaf, Ratatouille Nicoise, and Caribbean Black Beans. Soup is advertised as "Quart of Soup (serves 4) $7.99."

All in all, the owner's tag line is accurate: "Great Food, Fair Price."

Info. direct from the flyer left on our car:

"Square Meal" is not a Traditional Restaurant; it is a Catering Kitchen with your own Private Chef. Entrees from Italy, France, Spain, Greece, Cuba, Africa, Asia, Etc...The menu will change seasonally allowing us to bring...new recipes from our large repertory, together with original creations."

12339 15th Ave. NE
206-364-0865
Daily: 11 am -- 9 pm

--Sweet B

Photo courtesy of Seattle Weekly. Check out their review of Square Meal.

Cat Cora's Greek Cinnamon Stewed Chicken WINS A+++++++

Ok, so my enthusiasm for Cat Cora's budget-friendly 7-day menu was dimming...UNTIL I TRIED THIS CHICKEN! Please, please, please, if you make nothing else ever again in your life, make this. It's not hard, but it does take some time if you've never made it before. As I was doing it, I kept thinking "This will be even easier next time, because I'll be familiar with it." I followed the recipe she gave on Oprah, but I noticed that if you Google the recipe title, you can find other places where she uses white wine, and broth instead of water, and things like that. I certainly understand the flavor impact of using broth over water. I even amended an earlier of my recipes to point out how much better it was with broth instead of water, but this recipe exactly as it is listed on Oprah is so full of the best flavor in the universe. Don't bother making it more expensive. The flavor is not lost. Or, at least, I can't tell what I missed, because this was the best dish I've made all year, no joke. The only thing I did differently was make rice instead of Orzo, and add a side of green peas. And it was very cheap, with lots left over for lunches. My husband was up on the roof blowing all the pine tree debris out of the gutters, and he said the smell from the kitchen exhaust fan, which exits through a pipe on the roof, was driving him insane with hunger. And when he climbed down and came in to eat, he took one slurpy bite and looked at me as if I literally sprouted another head. His only comment: "Our new favorite." The boys, EVEN the picky 2-year-old, took seconds and thirds. The sauce is to-die-for.

With that firmly established, I'll go on ahead and say don't bother making her Southwestern Tuna Casserole from the same budget-friendly Oprah menu I mentioned the other day. It's simply that canned tuna and chili powder taste exactly how they sound. And there's way too much corn kernels and onions in that recipe. It was merely serviceable, but not great. I won't be making it again. The boys refused to eat it, opting for cereal instead. It was cheap, though...

On that note, I give myself an A+ for cutting the grocery bill by more than half. I worked really hard planning a menu for the week, and then only buying ingredients for my planned list, including snacks for growing boys and their growing mama. I spent $89 at the grocery store, and $15 on produce at the outdoor, open-air produce market two blocks away. I also planned for eating out twice, which saves me energy and dish washing, and can also be done cheaply. We will do our In-The-Car-Pic-Nic at Dick's Drive In and feed all four of us for around $12. We raise the back hatch on the station wagon, spread the blanket in the back and eat while watching folks come and go. The boys love to see the inevitable Police Cars and Construction Trucks pull in for meals. It's a winner. And last, there's a new place that opened called Square Meals. It has advertised itself as a take-out and catering joint with good healthy food at a fair price. A meat and 2 side dishes is $7.99. I figure two of those will feed the whole family, and that will be about $5 per person with tax and tip. I'll have to report back on that, and report on whether the groceries I bought actually lasted the whole week. So far so good. If my math is right (a rarity), that's somewhere just under $140 for the week of food for the four of us. Is that good? Can we do it even cheaper? I mean without having to eat stone soup and drink nothing but water and never have a snack, etc. Is $140 for a family of four reasonable?

--Sweet B

Feeding Families for Less: Two Lemon Pasta Recipes

Having finally taken a cue from financial experts and regular folks chiming in on Oprah, radio shows, or wherever, I took some time this week to scrutinize the family budget to see where the problem spending areas were. I added up, to the penny, all the money spent at the grocery store in the last two months, and I was so horrifyingly shocked, I think I almost brought on pre-term labor. The monthly figure for feeding our family of four was downright crippling to us financially, and just plain embarrassing. I'm on a mission to do better out of absolute necessity. I need all the help I can get with recipes that will feed a family cheaply. If you've got a good one, please help...send it in.

I know I recently posted a link to an Oprah show on which celebrity chefs did a little segment on this very thing. I'll post Cat Cora's again. She gave a week's worth of breakfast, lunch and dinner recipes, which can all be made for $150 or less, and she provides a shopping list to make things even easier for you to get going with this. Guess what my menu will be this week? Dang right.

And as if hearing my call for help, my boy Mario Batali had a recipe printed in this week's People magazine under the heading "Dinner For Four UNDER $10." It's a lemon fettucine recipe that reminded me of another lemon pasta recipe from the Moosewood Simple Suppers cookbook. I'll list them both, because you just might have the all the ingredients on hand to make one or the other. You can find Mario's in either this week's People, or in his book Molto Italiano.

Fettuccini Al Limone

Ingredients:
2 tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil
1 medium red onion, thinly sliced
1 tsp. red pepper flakes
3 jalapenos, seeded and cut into thin slivers
Zest and juice of 3 lemons
8 tbsp. (1 stick) butter
salt and freshly ground black pepper
1-1/4 lbs. fettucini pasta
1/2 cup grated Pecorino Romano

Directions:
1. Bring 6 quarts of water to a boil in a large pot and add 2 tablespoons of salt.

2. Meanwhile, in a 10-inch to 12-inch skillet, heat the olive oil over medium heat until almost smoking. Add the sliced onion and the red pepper flakes and saute until translucent for 8 to 10 minutes. Add the jalapenos and saute for another minute. Add the lemon zest and juice, bring to a boil, and continue boiling for 1 minute. Remove from heat, stir in the unsalted butter and season to taste with salt and pepper. Set aside.

3. Drop the pasta into the boiling water and cook until tender. Drain.

4. Toss the hot pasta into the pan with the lemon mixture, return to the medium heat and mix well, stirring gently. Add the Pecorino Romano and toss quickly. Transfer to a warmed serving platter and serve immediately.

The Moosewood recipe is even simpler.

Creamy Lemon Pasta

Ingredients:
1 lemon
1/4 cup unsalted butter
1 cup heavy cream
1 pound fresh fettuccine or dried spaghettini
1 cup grated Parmesan cheese
salt and pepper

Directions:
1. Bring a large covered pot of salted water to a boil. Meanwhile, grate the lemon peel (about 2 teaspoons of zest) and squeeze the lemon (about 3 tablespoons of juice).

2. In a small skillet or saucepan on low heat, melt the butter, Stir in the cream and heat gently. Stir in the lemon juice and zest. Turn off the heat.

3. When the water boils, cook the pasta until al dente (2 or 3 minutes for fresh pasta, longer for dried). Set aside a cup of the hot pasta-cooking water and drain the pasta.

4. Place the hot drained pasta in a large serving bowl, add the lemon cream sause, and toss, Add some or all of the reserved hot water if more liquid is needed. Toss in the grated Parmesan. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

(Photo courtesy of Flickr)

--Sweet B

Tortilla Pocket Sandwich with Ham, Honey, Mushrooms, and Gouda

Have mercy, I accidentally struck gold again with the impossibly good combination of whole-wheat tortilla, fried ham smeared with honey, sauteed mushrooms, and 5-year gouda grated over top. They say necessity is the mother of invention, and that was certainly the case today when I struggled all day to feed the family with the crumbs of last week's grocery trip. How does one feed two growing boys and their large, pregnant Momma breakfast and lunch when by some fluke there's only one of everything left in the house? One waffle, one piece of bread, one undersized apple, one schmear of honey, and one small packet of instant multigrain oatmeal, one egg, one tortilla, etc. If the older one says oatmeal, the younger one will cry because he can't have oatmeal. If the younger one gets the last bread and last smear of honey, the older one will wail because he swore that's what he wanted. So this is how the day went. Piecing and parsing and praying to divide it all out somehow without having to drag them through the store for a big shop.

Come lunch time, pickins were mighty darn slim. I had my one tortilla left, one egg, one small slice of breakfast ham, and the edge of a nice 5-year, hard-grating gouda. In the very back of the fridge, I found an over-large container of sliced mushrooms my husband bought days earlier when I just needed a few mushrooms for a recipe. So here were these nearly dead, miserable mushrooms to add to the mix. I threw the mushrooms and ham in a skillet with some olive oil to brown them. When they were done, I smeared our last bit of honey on the hot ham and put it along with the mushrooms on half of a whole-wheat tortilla. I grated the last of the gouda all over the hot mixture to melt, and I folded over the other half of tortilla. I also hard-boiled the last egg to go alongside.

I cannot emphasize enough the wonder of flavors in this little sandwich. It was a heavenly mix just as it was, and very filling with the egg alongside, but I couldn't help imagining how I could do it better. A little sweet/hot mustard? Fried or scrambled egg inside instead of alongside? Something green and leafy like spinach? Something surprising like thinly sliced melon? You tell me. Write back. But if nothing else, please make one of these for yourself. It doesn't take 5 minutes to make, yet it's something you would definitely walk to a cafe and pay good money for.

--Sweet B

I Finally Discovered "Eat This, Not That!"

Did anybody take a minute to look over the list of America's Healthiest Restaurants that popped up as a link on Yahoo Mail last month? I bookmarked it with the intention of reading through it, but didn't get around to it until now. It's way worth a read. A million interesting clicks later through a maze of nutritional insight, I led myself back to the folks responsible for that list, as well as an acclaimed book, Eat This, Not That!. Dave Zinczenko, editor-in-chief of Men's Health, and Matt Goulding have done a very thorough, commendable job of providing nutritional information about everyday foods we eat, and they keep things interesting by revealing quite a few surprises about foods usually thought of as "health foods." Further investigation reveals that probably everyone on the planet already knew about these guys before me, since a major New York business newswire reported the following in January of this year:

"In its first week on sale, the third book in the Eat This, Not That! series, EAT THIS, NOT THAT! SUPERMARKET SURVIVAL GUIDE, has debuted as the bestselling nonfiction book in the country. The essential guidebook for navigating the American supermarket was penned by Eat This, Not That! and Eat This, Not That! For Kids! authors David Zinczenko and Matt Goulding. The book is also the top-selling health and fitness book of the week, according to Nielsen BookScan rankings, the world’s largest retail book sales monitoring service."

Dave's turn on the Ellen DeGeneres and Rachel Ray shows probably cemented the fact that I'm the last in America to discover this stuff. But if by chance you are like me, completely walled in by 2- and 5-year-olds to the point where you can't hear any noise from the outside world, then I'm happy to be the one to share these food facts with you at a moment when you've obviously found time to sit down and quietly surf online. Check out the Eat This, Not That website for more flabbergasting surprises. It's truly a site where you'll click and click and be surprised and rewarded by what you find out.

--Sweet B

Sweet B's Ultimate: Tyler Cooking Mac and Cheese with Bacon

Ok, Ok. So I was just about to blow my whistle and holler "Do Over!" because I made an egregious error in overlooking how to turn my Pasta, Chicken Sausage, etc., recipe into a far more delicious experience. I was going to liken my improvements to the recipe to those of Tyler Florence on his show Tyler's Ultimate, where he takes a basic recipe that everyone's familiar with and makes it, like, ten times better. And when I did a quick search on Tyler's Ultimate, I found that The Food Network has posted a bunch of Tyler's ultimate recipes in little 5 minute videos. The first one that came up for me (after an un-skip-able commercial) was Tyler's Ultimate Macaroni and Cheese with Bacon.

EUREKA! A world class discovery! Aint nothing better than mac, cheese, bacon PLUS a short how-to with Tyler. When Mario B. never returns my virtual calls, I turn to Tyler for some heart salve. (Now please realize where I'm coming from. At 6 months pregnant, I look like I swallowed both of those men whole. Each of them would claim I have all the appeal of a earthworm who gulped an ostrich egg, so my comments are all just good clean food fun, ok?)

Tyler has ultimate recipes in these little short videos for Meatballs, Grilled Chicken, and Caramel Apple Pie, just to name a few. So while I do think it's important to keep reading so you can see a simple way to improve a recipe I posted earlier, you just might want to look these over, too. They're fantastic. Simply clicking on "Tyler's Ultimate" above will take you straight to the videos. If you're at work, plug your earphones into your machine and take a gander. That is some good video watchin right there.

Now for the revision to my earlier recipe Pasta with Chicken Sausage, Tomatoes, Olives, Mushrooms, Capers, and Parmesan Cheese. I think these two simple revisions take it from plain good to "ultimate":

What was I thinking in step 1 when I said to "set WATER to boil"? Of course, you want to boil your pasta in either chicken broth or vegetable broth (bouillon cubes and water work, too) to give it more flavor. Boil it until most of the liquid is absorbed, but not all of the liquid. That way, you never need drain your pasta at all, but dump the whole boiling pot of it into the sausage and vegetables mixture. Having extra broth will provide all the creaminess you need, and when you combine it with the fresh-grated cheese, it's even creamier and better. Another thing to note, I've been using a 5-year, hard-grating, Dutch gouda instead of parmesan (because I ran out of parmesan) and the gouda is even better in the recipe. Daddy, I am talkin GOURMET here. This pasta dish becomes something entirely different and better if you use broth to boil your noodles and use that 5-year gouda. Because my kids will eat it, we have it lots now, and I've made it better and better each time. Try it with a side salad. Ohmygosh.

--Sweet B