Al Dente

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

Got Contorni for Me? Yes, 3 Yummy Side Dishes, Simple and Savory.

Everybody knowing me knows of the "secret" flame I harbor for Mario Batali. Course, who doesn't harbor such? What's not to like about a saucy Italian man in technicolor shoes preparing fresh, delicioso Italian food? So why haven't I shared anything from my Mario books before now, you ask. I've kept him to myself. But I guess the sudden onset of three Summer-like days in a row has me feeling generous with my love. Plus, I just plain have the hardest time coming up with side dishes, so I went a searchin'. Most nights, I'll do something like open a bag of frozen sweet corn and put some butter on it and that's great for me. But sometimes one wants a little more, yet not so much more that it's like doing the work of a main entree all over again. I think these three "side dishes" are just right for entertaining, or for those nights you feel like putting a little more into and getting a little more out of your sides.

Mario (that's Mr. Batali to you) tells me these are called "contorni." It means "vegetable dishes." You would think the first one is more of a Fall/Winter dish, but I know acorn squash is available year round. And, I bet you could substitute a summer "cousin" vegetable in this recipe from Simple Italian Food.

Sauteed Pumpkin with Chiles, Mint, and Honey

Ingredients:
1 pound sugar pumpkin or acorn squash, peeled and seeded
4 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
4 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
1 teaspoon hot red pepper flakes
3 tablespoons red wine vinegar
3 tablespoons honey
3 tablespoons chopped fresh mint leaves

Directions:
1. Cut the pumpkin into 1-inch cubes.
2. In a 12- to 14-inch saute pan, heat the olive oil until smoking. Add the pumpkin and garlic and cook, tossing frequently, until light golden brown, 4 to 5 minutes. Add the red pepper flakes, vinegar, and honey and bring to a boil. Cook until the liquid is reduced to a syrup around the pumkin, about 1 minute. Remove from the heat, toss with the mint, and serve.

Two more contorni recipes follow...

--Sweet B

Pasta with Chicken Sausage, Tomatoes, Olives, and Other Good Stuff

I reckon if you list ingredients and directions, then you've given a recipe, right? I'm sure this is a bona fide recipe published somewhere, but it was another of those accidentally delicious occurrences that I made just on the fly. I feel like I've seen it on just about every Food Network show ever made. It's not rocket science, it's just a common sense combination of ingredients. Also, I think one of the celebrity chefs featured on Oprah recently made a version of this, too. Did everybody check out Oprah's show on cheap easy meals to make during the bad economy? See all the recipes listed by chef's name here. Tyler Florence called the slow cooker today's "Recession Buster." Guess you'll want to re-visit KitchenMaus's recent slow-cooker entries, plus the slow-cooker reader recipes that were sent in. I don't own one yet, but I am this close | | to buying one. What's not to like about throwing everything in a pot in the morning and then BOOM, come dinnertime it's all done? And what's not to like about saving money?

Anyway, here's a delicious pasta that worked for my kids, because they just got a big bowl of it and ate what they wanted out of it with their fingers and left the rest. They both went for the sausage and noodles, but my squashy older one went for the cherry tomatoes while the squishy younger one ate all his and everyone else's olives. I ate my and everyone else's mushrooms. Here's something I did that I think made a big difference. I noticed that almost every ingredient was salty due to my recent salt cravings, so I sprinkled a couple big fingerfulls of natural sugar over the sausage mixture before adding the pasta and I think that really brightened the whole thing and reduced the salt tang. It was delicious in the end. Plus, it's fast and easy. A total working mom weeknight meal.

Pasta with Chicken Sausage, Tomatoes, Olives, Mushrooms, Capers, and Parmesan Cheese

Ingredients:
2 long, fat links of Chicken Basil Sundried Tomato Sausage (or any kind)
2 large, fat cloves of garlic, minced
10 or so cherry tomatoes, halved
20 or so pitted Kalamata olives, halved
5 or 6 mushrooms sliced thick
1 bent palm-ful of capers
fresh Parmiggiano Reggiano, grated
1-1/2 cups or so of Fusilli pasta (or any other kind, really)
sprinkle of sugar

Directions:
1. Set water to boil for the pasta and throw pasta in whenever it starts boiling. Meanwhile:
2. Cut sausage into bite-sized chunk balls and put in skillet on medium heat with a drizzle of olive oil.
3. Mince garlic, halve tomatoes and olives, and slice the mushrooms and add them to skillet when the sausage is about half done. The goal is to keep your tomatoes and mushrooms from cooking all the way down to mush, but if they do, then so what? They'll still add good flavor.
4. When sausage is done and tomatoes are softening, but still holding their shape, turn off heat until pasta is done.
5. Add capers and sprinkle some sugar over the skillet goods to reduce the salt tang.
5. If/When pasta is done, then drain it, setting aside some of the cooking water, and add pasta on top of the sausage mixture in the skillet.
6. Grate some Parmiggiano Reggiano (a slab about 2 inches long and 3/4 inches thick) over the hot pasta, then stir it all together in the hot skillet. Add some pasta cooking water to achieve a wetter, creamier texture. Let everybody top off his/her own bowlful with some more freshly grated cheese at the table. Add lots of good fresh cheese!

My kids really enjoy grating fresh parmesan cheese with our rotary grater. Only problem is, it's too much fun and they end up with mounds of cheese.

--Sweet B

Accidentally Delicious Turkey Burgers

Last night I was determined to make a nutritious dinner for the boys and got all the ingredients for turkey burgers as I thought I remembered reading them from Jessica Seinfeld's Deceptively Delicious recipe. But how's this for lazy--when it came time to prep the food, I was so panic-hungry and suffering from the shakes (this happens suddenly and without warning in pregnancy) that I simply couldn't be bothered to pull the book down and open it. Looking up a page number and turning to that page seemed a vast, complex sequence of events and a grotesque waste of precious time. This is the dearth of logic that also happens all during my pregnancies...

"OH SH@$, I CAN'T REMEMBER THE RECIPE!"

"Honey, do you want me to hand you the cookbook?"

"QUICK! NO TIME! JUST HAND ME THE TURKEY!"

"...but it's right here...I can.."

"JUST YOU AND THE BOYS GET OUT OF MY WAY!"

Of course, there are two recipes in her book for making turkey burgers, and I think I mixed the both of them together, but nevermind. Whatever I made was accidentally delicious. I used some leftover organic chicken-flavored stuffing mix instead of whatever bread crumbs she called for (after all, stuffing IS bread crumbs) and I think that gave me a real flavor boost. I thought the recipe called for a cup of bread crumbs, but when I measured out a cup, there was so little left in the bag I decided to use it all. It was probably around 1-1/4 to 1-1/2 cups.

Turkey Burgers

Ingredients:
1 pound ground turkey thigh
2 tablespoons low-sodium organic soy sauce
2 tablespoons organic ketchup
2 fat cloves of garlic, minced
3 baby carrots, minced
1 scallion, white and green part chopped
1-1/4 to 1-1/2 cups organic chicken-flavored Thanksgiving stuffing mix
1/2 to 3/4 cup milk
some shakes of salt and black pepper

Directions:

1. In a medium mixing bowl, combine everything. It just so happens I combined everything except the turkey, because I couldn't find it at first, and so everything had soaked together for at least 5 minutes while I hunted down the ground turkey. Don't ask... But I don't know if this made them taste better, adding the meat last while everything else soaked together, or if it wouldn't matter either way.

2. Squish it all together with your hands trying for an even distribution of little green and orange flecks across burgers. I made 6 big patties approximately 1/2-3/4 of an inch thick. One patty was smaller for the baby. The rest were evenly sized. They will seem overly moist. Don't be concerned. Turkey dries out while it cooks.

3. Cook in a frying pan with a drizzle of olive oil for about 5 minutes per side. Add cheese on top while they're hot if you want cheese. Or you could top it with some fancy Asian slaw and a hoisin sauce or something.

Next Day Brunch: I chopped up a leftover burger patty and used it to make great 2-egg omelets with cherry tomatoes, mushrooms, garlic, scallion, and cheddar cheese.

--Sweet B

Our Bacon IS Streaky, and We Like It Anyway...So Much

Wanting to seem abreast of current food events, I thought I'd chime in on America's sweetheart: Bacon. Though, looking at past posts on the topic, it seems more apt to call bacon our passionately explosive love interest rather than a mere sweetheart. Ok. Fine. It's just that they laughed at me in an Edinburgh hotel one morning when I asked for bacon and they gave me a wallet-thick slab of ham. The server was already exasperated because I had asked for my egg yolks to be cooked through, and when he delivered the plate, he announced (in the most beautiful brogue) "Here's your cremated egg." He pronounced it like "Krematid" with rolling Rs, and I loved him and his voice and accent so much, I felt apologetic about how I liked my food. I'd follow a Scotsman anywhere, and I always order my eggs "Krematid" now. When I pointed out to him that I ordered bacon, not ham, I got a raucus snarl. "You mean STREAKY bacon!" (rolling those Rs...STRRRRReaky). I just didn't know how to answer him. Did I mean streaky bacon?

Yes, I did. I hadn't realized that we are pitied in the UK for our paltry servings of pig over on our side of the pond. In an England hotel, I was told that U.S. bacon, "streaky" bacon, is what poor people make do with eating.

Gosh.

It's true that it takes about 26 pieces for me to feel satiated from it, but I had just not seen this whole thing from the mother country's perspective before. When I went to do my research for our blog's overly educated readers of bacon news, I came first thing across the most beautiful British poem titled "Streaky Bacon." Perhaps because one of our poorest, actress Julia Louis Dreyfus, is gracing a recent cover of Shape Magazine in a bikini and confessing to a reporter that "My biggest food vice is bacon...In fact, I don't keep bacon in my house--that would be way too tempting," I feel compelled to print this poem. 

Streaky Bacon
by Herbert Lomas

Suddenly I couldn’t remember the name of
streaky bacon. Gammon, yes, back bacon, ham,

but at the point where streaky bacon
should be there was a black hole

like the centre of the galaxy, and my brain
was being sucked into its seductive gravity.

I decided to read a bit and come back
for the streaky bacon, but now

I was outside my brain, looking at its
irresponsible darkness. It was America’s fault.

In the USA they only have one kind of bacon.
It’s half an inch of fat with a cotton-thin red edge

and they don’t call it streaky because it isn’t.
I took down the Encyclopaedia Britannica.

Bacon comes from German bachen, ‘wild pig’.
It’s a side of swine after removing the spare ribs,

pickling or smoking, has an extremely high
fat content and is not particularly nutritious -

American bacon by weight contains only 8.5 per cent
protein - but the article didn’t mention streaky bacon.

I turned to my hostess, but she said. ‘We only have
one kind of bacon. Canadian bacon, though,

is more lean.’ So I said, ‘In England we have lots -
back bacon, gammon, ham and - oh! - streaky...’

Suddenly the earth was flat, the sun was moving
left to right across the sky, our world was

the centre of a universe that has no centre,
the black hole had stopped swallowing the galaxy,

and death, though probably not far off,
probably wasn’t coming to Florida today.

  

This poem appears on the Poetry Library Southbank Centre website at poetrymagazines.org.uk.

The image of Crispy Bacon comes from Blogchef.net

--Sweet B

More from Moosewood--Savory Bread and Cheese Bake

I remember when I roomed with a girl who would stop by a produce stand (that used to be a gas station) on her way home from work and get a butternut squash for dinner. She would roast it, and that would be it. The whole dinner. That's dinner?, I would think to myself. Squash from the gas station? Yep.

Having been raised to believe one serves meat, potatoes, black-eyed peas OR butter beans, and at least two other vegetables, plus biscuits, at most lunches and every dinner, that was difficult for me to get at first. Of course I understood the student-budget Ramen Noodles meals. But one squash? You know what? One squash IS dinner, and a darn good one. Thank goodness I have traveled so far from my roots, no? Now I understand the beauty of serving a butternut squash, an arugula salad, and a glass of good wine to guests at a dinner party and doing it proudly, even with a certain snob appeal around it. This is the "in" crowd I want to be in with and, frankly, I'm glad my kids are growing up with less meat and more veggies in their lives. When I'm not pregnant, I make sure they eat very very well. When I am, they are on their own, poor little devils. Good luck to 'em if they can find a butternut squash or a bag of popcorn. I'll just be over here asleep and to each his own.

Really, this Simple Suppers cookbook I talked about the other day is too good to be true. All I needed to see was the title "Savory Bread & Cheese Bake," (also referred to as a "golden pudding") and I knew it was for us. Tonight. They recommend a yummy roast cauliflower and red peppers salad tossed with olive oil and Cumin Salt or Moroccan Spice Mix as a side dish, but I'm not typing those out. You'll have to get the book. But doesn't that sound like a yummy side? I don't know if I'll make sides though. I'm still getting my preggy-sea-legs under control and can probably only handle making one thing. And now I that I'm grown up and I know it's ok to have just one thing, one good thing, for dinner, that's what we do a lot.

Savory Bread & Cheese Bake

Ingredients:
3 tablespoons butter
12 ounces crusty bread (French, Italian, or sourdough)
1 cup grated cheese, such as Cheddar, Swiss, or Monterey Jack
1 cup chopped scallions
6 eggs
2 cups milk
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1 generous tablespoon Dijon mustard

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Put the butter in a 2-quart baking dish and place in the oven to melt. When the butter is melted, swirl it around to coat the dish. While the butter melts, cut the bread into 1-inch cubes (about 6 cups, loosely packed). Place the bread cubes in the buttered baking dish. Sprinkle evenly with the cheese and scallions.

Puree the eggs, milk, salt, pepper, and mustard in a blender, or beat the eggs in a bowl and then whisk in the other ingredients. Pour the custard over the bread and use a spatula to push the bread down into the custard. Bake covered with aluminum foil for 25 to 30 minutes (depending on the shape and depth of the baking dish). Remove the foil and bake until puffy and golden brown, about 5 minutes.

Note from Moosewood team: This recipe provides a great way to use up stale, dry bread. It is also good made with rye, pumpernickel, or whole wheat bread.

--Sweet B

p.s. Seems to me this is a great breakfast or lunch item as well. Score!

The "Simple Suppers" Cookbook Helps You Host Vegetarians

Do you suffer panics when you host vegetarians at your soirees? I do. I cannot to save my life delicately cook a fish, which most of my vegetarian friends will eat. Nor can I turn out tantalizing vegetables that are not too crunchy and not limp beyond recognition. Why, I wonder, is it harder for me to cook vegetarian meals than meaty meals? I really would think it would be the other way around. But for me it's harder to mess up a slab of meat since my go-to method involves slathering it in sauce and putting it in a very low-heat oven to cook all day long until it's fall-off-the-bone tender. Pour the pan juices into a gravy boat, set out the mashed potatoes, and what else do you need?

Listen, I once hosted friends for a night of pork ribs, mashed potatoes, and biscuits, and here's what I managed to do. I brought the perfectly cooked dish of ribs out of the oven and set it on the stove top burner, which I had accidentally turned to high instead of off. This wouldn't have been so bad if the dish in question had not been a glass baking dish. I don't own a good set of cookware or bakeware. (My I'm-a-mother-and-supposedly-an-adult kitchen is just like my college apartment and grad school apartment kitchens were: understocked.) So while the man half of the couple I was hosting, a handsome young doctor I might add, stood with me smelling and admiring the ribs, I noticed the pan juices begin to boil rapidly. I realized what was happening, screamed appropriately, and popped the whole thing back into the oven as fast as I could---whereupon the dish more or less exploded. Now here's the important part: The very handsome doctor leaned into the oven, pulled out the ribs, now poorly supported by a flat, misshapen slab of glass, and began to meticulously inspect them for shards. It looked like a tiny diamond factory in my oven, yet he still, with a word to no one, had his face to within an inch of the ribs, scrutinizing them left to right. I realized what he was doing and couldn't believe it. He was trying to discern whether they were edible. Maybe eating shards of glass isn't as bad as we think? If they're just tiny? No. I dumped out the whole lot of ribs, accompanied by a very visceral sad reaction on the part of the guests who had looked forward to them as much as I had. But this is a simple testament to let you know how far someone would consider going when it comes to my perfectly cooked ribs. I cannot even approach this level of goodness when I cook vegetarian. Not even one of my boring vegetarian friends is willing to eat cooked glass.

But maybe they will change their minds now that I own Simple Suppers by the folks at The Moosewood Collective. Moosewood vegetarian cookbooks have been around for a long time now, but my experience with earlier versions has been that they turn out just plain bland food. But not this one. This cookbook has everything going for it. As the title suggests, SIMPLE suppers are easily achieved, even if you aren't a good cook or don't own great cookware. And they're vegetarian, AND each recipe suggests side dishes and accompaniments so you can achieve a full, rounded menu for guests. It's designed "for the weeknight table" so you know the recipes have to be fast and easy.

Continue reading to get the recipe that worked for me--

--Sweet B

Chunky Potato Cheddar Soup with Canadian Bacon (and Broccoli)

Is soup a meal? People really are divided on that. I've even got a divide in my own head. It's kind of a kooky split opinion. It's akin to siding with the letter of the law but preferring the spirit. If they passed a law that said wearing perfume in public was illegal, and then a poll taker put a gun to my head and said I had to sign my name in ink on a form agreeing or disagreeing with the new perfume law, then I'd be forced to sign saying it was unconstitutional and that people should be allowed to wear perfume. Secretly, I'd be loving the new law while publicly supporting an appeal and knowing that an appeal was absolutely, completely, thoroughly just. It's the same with this soup issue. Out loud I feel I must say it is definitely a meal. No argument to the contrary holds up. Yet there is a small voice way down deep saying simply, no it's not. You know it's not. It's just not. That voice won't listen to reason. I hate that voice.

My temporary appeasement is to contend that if you eat six bowls of a soup that's really good, as I did with this one, then you have most definitely had a meal, so shut up voice.

Chunky Potato Cheddar Soup with Canadian Bacon (or Ham or Another Meat) (and Broccoli)

Ingredients:
3 medium red potatoes
1 small onion
3 tablespoons butter
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
crushed red pepper flakes
ground black pepper flakes
3 cups milk
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1 cup cooked cubed Canadian bacon (or ham, or bacon, or meat of your choice)
1 cup broccoli florets, chopped small (or cup of frozen green peas)

Directions:
1. Put medium sauce pot of water on to boil. Meanwhile, peel potatoes and cut into 1-inch cubes.
2. Cook potatoes in salted boiling water just until they are beginning to get tender. Scoop out 1 cup of potato cooking water and set aside. Drain potatoes.
3. Peel and finely chop onion. Melt butter in medium to large soup pot and add the onions, stirring frequently until they are tender and translucent.
4. Add flour, red pepper flakes, and black pepper to onions and cook for a minute or two into a thick, pasty mixture.
5. Add reserved 1 cup cooking liquid and stir. Add milk, potatoes, and sugar to the pot, and stir well. Add cheese and ham. Add optional broccoli or green peas. Simmer over low heat for 30 minutes, stirring frequently. Do not boil. Stir frequently and scrape bottom often.
6. Taste and adjust for seasonings. Serve with a good hunk of bread, or in a home-made breadbowl.

--Sweet B