Pictures of Food

It's no secret that I like to cook.  That's a good thing, because sometimes I have to make five meals a day.  Also, my kids train hard and need about 5,000 calories a day, mostly of GOOD food (with actual nutrients in it), and that isn't always easy.

Food experts say that first, you eat with your eyes.  Maybe that's why I always feel like taking a photo of my food - a way to preserve my accomplishment before it's been eaten.  They are bad photos because it's usually w/ my camera phone.  And I don't really cook "pretty" food - I'm just a plain, family cook.

But if I don't get something up on my blog, all 3 of my readers will wonder what happened, and my Klout score will fall below 50.  I think it's cool I have a Klout score that is a higher number than my age and I aim to keep it that way.

So....  here are a few photos of my culinary accomplishments and the reasons I took the pictures in the first place.

Eggs.  Eggs are a recently discovered condiment in my house.  This is a white bean and kale stew, and I've "gilded the lily" by topping it with a poached egg.  I've put poached eggs on salads, burgers, a plate of sauteed spring onions, a stack of grilled asparagus, into a bowl of tomato sauce.  Eggs just add that extra bit of luxuriousness (and protein!) and plus, when The Girls are in top form, I've got lots of them.

Tomatoes.  I sure wish I could successfully grow tomatoes because despite the fact that I don't much care for them raw, I cook with them all the time.  Below is a sheet pan full of halved romas dusted w/ a bit of salt and pepper and a drizzle of olive oil.

A few hours in the oven and they are like candy.  I can remember my mother saying this about vegetables and I always thought she was crazy.  Now I know what she meant, or I've become crazy too.

More eggs.  This just makes me happy because it's an egg from 50 feet from my house, and deer sausage from 50 miles from my house, compliments of Boy.

Grilling.  I love to grill.  I don't care what time of year it is, I grill many nights a week.  I will grill the bread, the dessert, even the salad sometimes.

Yum.  This was a pretty tasty snicky snack, pulled together by a little dish of wine jelly, infused with lemon and rosemary.  Went GREAT with the fish and the tangy chevre.  Should have made more of it.

More eggs.  Mother's day breakfast in bed.  Eggs Benedict.  No further words are necessary.

And finally, more eggs.  One of the challenges of my household is to balance the needs of my calorie-consuming kids with the needs of my aging body.  One of my favorite meals is to make a red sauce (with all those lovely cooked tomatoes!) that is full of all kinds of veggies and love.  The kids get the sauce on pasta, and I eat a bowl of it with a poached egg (or two) tossed in.  Yum.

Morning Survival

My kids are competitive swimmers.  And generally, once they reach a certain age, morning practices are an inevitability.

Aidan started doing them a couple of years ago and it was a big adjustment for both of us.  It took at least a month before 4:15am didn't feel completely brutal.

Middle schoolers have time to come home after practice, high schoolers do not, especially given the fact that we live so far out of town.  So, this year Aidan had to learn how to be ready for his entire day at 4:15.  Me too - it meant adding LUNCH to the morning routine.  And a second breakfast that could be eaten in the car.

Then, Bridget started doing morning practices, and that meant another breakfast, and another body to roust from the bed, and a second pool to get to by 5:00am.

Our general routine is that I get up at 4:15 and head upstairs to wake the kids.  Aidan wakes up pretty quickly, Bridget not so much.  Aidan knows immediately what he wants me to fix for first- and second-breakfast, Bridget not so much.  They are both guilty of rolling over and going back to sleep, which I don't have time for, and that makes Mama cranky.

We have from 4:15 - 4:40 to get up, dressed, pack one lunch, make 3 breakfasts, and get whatever they need for practice (water bottles, clean towels, shoes, equipment bag, etc.) and get out the door.  You can see why any deviation from The Schedule makes Mama cranky.

I start the breakfasts (could be cereal, toast, bagel, oatmeal, or egg sandwich), and then start texting the kids to see if they are up yet.

It is generally known that if I have to stop what I am doing, and head back up stairs and wake up sleeping children, that Mama gets Extra Cranky.

Sometimes, it doesn't go so well.  Like when Bridget decided to curl up in a ball on the dining room floor and cry herself back to sleep.

It's times like those that Mama has to take a deep breath and decide whether the right approach is cajoling, yelling, or letting everyone go back to bed.

One of my biggest saviors has been making breakfast sandwiches in advance and freezing them.  Yep, took me about 3 years to figure this one out, I am slow that way.

I brown a pound or so of deer sausage, and crack a dozen or so eggs.  Ray bought this cute little pan that is perfect for an egg & sausage patty.

I crank out a dozen or so of these patties, and also put an equal amount of english muffins under the broiler to toast.

I assemble them all with a slice of cheese and put them into a zip top baggie, suck out the air and freeze them.

About 1:10 in the microwave and it's a good start to their day.

I actually don't mind morning practices.  It makes the evenings less crazy, and we often are all home at a decent hour for dinner together, which I love.

Nutrition Overhaul

They say when you set a goal, one of the things you are supposed to do it be public about it.  It's harder to fail if you tell people about it instead of keeping it to yourself.

Well....  I want to lose some weight.  No surprise, it's New Year's Day, I'm approaching 50, I love to cook, eat and drink.  I don't exercise.  Duh!  No brainer, and I'm hardly unique.

But it's a little bit more complicated than that.  This isn't just a "smoothie for breakfast, salad for lunch, and avoid the pasta at dinner" kind of diet.  It's more along the lines of helping my body age more gracefully.  Transitioning my palate and cooking habits to the "less meat, more fiber" a woman of my *cough* advanced years should have.

And, it's even more complicated than THAT.  I have kids.  Very active kids.  Growing kids that train hard and have some pretty hefty nutritional requirements that don't necessarily jive with the requirements of the lady that does their cooking.

So.  I'm putting it out there to the Universe.

Yes, the challenge is to lose weight.  But more than that, the challenge is to make changes and learn something.  And not just me - the kids too.  If Aidan had his choice, he'd exist on tortillini, cream sauce and garlic bread.  Bridget would exist on mashed potatoes.  None of which is good for Ray and I.  If Ray had his choice, it would be something a little more exotic than the usual "kid-friendly" fare I mindlessly sling to the table each evening.  And if I had my way, there would be a lot more vegetables and nobody would grumble about it.

So.  Here we go.  A new Food Adventure for me where I attempt to keep everyone happy.  Dinners that give Ray and I plenty of flavor but also meet the caloric requirements of the kids.  More vegetables for everyone, new sources of protein like legumes and quinoa.  And acceptance of the notion that what once may have been considered a side dish now serves as an entire meal.

Change is hard.  I only hope that I can stand the grumbling of my table mates.

Camping

It's been a while since we've gone camping.  Aidan goes pretty regularly with the Boy Scouts and Bridget has been bemoaning the fact that she never gets to go camping.

A few weeks ago, the Scouts were going to some place in Oklahoma called Beavers Bend.  Ray thought it would be a good idea if we piggy-backed on their trip.  The campgrounds don't take reservations, and by heading up mid-week, we'd be able to help the Scouts in securing some campsites.

The first chore of course was locating and dusting off all the old camping gear and inspecting it all to see what was still in good condition.  Apparently, somewhere along the line, we have divested ourselves of a stove, but other than that we were in pretty good shape.  Having a Very Large Car is a good thing, as we don't have to leave anything at home!

The drive up was interesting and pretty.  We went through lots of little towns, which is always intersting in Texas.  Small towns in Texas do City Hall really well...  beautiful and stately stone buildings, typically right on the town square.  Sadly, many of these towns and the surrounding Victorian-style homes were built with now-departed oil money, so what once may have been a charming and thriving town square, surrounded by lovely homes is now desolate and sad.  Shuttered businesses, peeling paint, yet the stone edifice of Town Hall still remains, seeming almost.... hopeful.

It's always fun to stop in some small town and try to find a cafe or diner where the "locals" go, and we had burgers on the way up in Paris, TX, and an amazing brunch on the way home in Mena, Arkansas.

Once we got to Hochatown, OK the quest for the Perfect Campsite began.  There are lots of sites right on Broken Bow lake, and then down below the dam plenty of river sites as well.  After inspecting everything, and evaluating tree cover, bathrooms, site sizes, etc. we selected a gorgeous site right on the river.



The water temperature was cool and lovely!  Being so near the water made the heat almost a non-issue (except at night when I was trying to sleep - then I missed the air conditioning!).  The river was wide, deep, and while there wasn't a strong current, it moved swiftly enough to keep it clear, clean and fresh.

Directly across from our campsite were some great slate rock formations.  Great for climbing on and.... jumping off!

Aidan did quite a bit of fishing and we had delicious fresh trout for dinner.  As part of his fishing merit badge, he was required to cook it.  Since we had plenty, he cooked two and delivered them to his Scoutmaster's site.  His preparation method couldn't be simpler or more delicious.....  wrap two trout in a foil pouch with salt, pepper, and about a half a stick of buttah.  Set them on a rock in the coals of a very hot fire, and in about 12 minutes the packet puffs up and the fish are done.  Delish!

One afternoon, Bridget and I went to the local stables and had a nice trail ride.  It was through a densely wooded area and we saw lots of deer.  And we were highly entertained by the very vocal woman behind me who hadn't been on a horse in over 50 years and used humor to disguise her nervousness.

We spent one morning on Broken Bow lake.  We hit the Redneck Yacht Club and rented a boat and spent a couple of hours tourturing each other on wakeboards and tubes.

In typical "Boy" fashion, Aidan wanted to catch a squirrel.  Using the tried and true "box, stick, and string" method, he created a trail of Cheerios and had several squirrels come investigate.

He was rewarded a couple of times by catching either one slow and stupid squirrel, or a couple of different ones.

There were a couple of places nearby to rent kayaks and canoes, and we did that a couple of times.  It's such a relaxing way to see the river!

The Boy Scouts also had kayaks and canoes, and after they had done the serious work of specific merit badge skills, they entertained us by playing games like "How Many Boys Can You Fit In A 2-Man Kayak" and other silly activities.

I think my camp cooking skills have grown a little rusty, but the family was forgiving.  Bridget invented The Perfect S'more by substituting soft chocolate chip cookies for graham crackers!

On the way home, we took a couple of hours to head in to southwest Arkansas and check out the Ouachita region.  Simply gorgeous, with peaks and valleys, beautiful forests, etc.  We'll definitely be back!

Summer in a Spoon

I first tasted this recipe at a neighbor's party.  I knew it was a winner when I saw my husband, who does not care for watermelon, gobbling it up and going for seconds.

I've made it several times since, always tweaking the recipe a bit, and every pot luck I bring it to gets the same response - people gobble it up and go back for more.  It's a large recipe, but it all gets eaten, every time!

It is so fresh, and refreshing!  A little bit of crunch, a tiny bit of heat, slightly tarty background, and sweetness up front.

It takes time to make it - there is lots of slicing and dicing!  A good opportunity to practice your knife skills, or teach them to any young cook's helpers hanging around.

Watermelon Gazpacho

Puree:
1/2 watermelon with about 6 cups cranberry juice

Small dice:
1/2 water melon
8 stalks celery
2 english cucumbers (peel & seed them)
1 each: red, orange and yellow bell peppers

Mince:
1 jalepeno
1 cup basil and mint (proprotion to your taste)
1 small red onion

Combine all intredients, salt to taste, chill and serve.

Notes:
Try to get cranberry juice, not cranberry juce "cocktail" which is mostly grape juice
De-seed the jalepenos if you don't like the heat
Make it several hours in advance, so it gets a good chill, and the flavors meld

Produce productivity

Things have been just bustin' out all over at Mansion Farms, where I have a share and get to pick up freshly harvested veggies every week.

I am learning a lot about locavorism.  What I am learning is that you have to put what is on hand to use now, or find a way to preserve it for later.  This week's haul included broccoli, radishes, beets, and lots of onions.

The broccoli was steamed and enjoyed with dinner.  That is a no-brainer.

However, owing to a busy week last week, I still hadn't done anything with last week's radishes, beets and onions and I had a lot on hand.

I spent about three or four hours on my feet in the kitchen, but this is what I accomplished:

• Topped all the beets - the freshest I washed and dried, to be sauteed later in the week
• The beets all got cleaned and roasted for an hour, then peeled
• Some of the beets went into a light vinaigrette, to be enjoyed with lunches this week
• Some of the beets were saved to be re-warmed for dinners
• The last of the beets, I pickled with a few of the red onions
• Some of the radishes were cleaned and saved to be eaten raw in salads
• Some of the radishes were cleaned and saved to be roasted - yummy, if you've never tried it
• Some of the radishes were pickled with garlic and fennel.  The jury is still out on this
• The onions were chopped and sauteed in butter and sherry
• Once the onions were cooled, they were spread onto pastry and two rustic tarts were made and frozen for later

Gorgeous and delicious onions!

Radishes ready for pickling

 Golden and regular beets - ready for pickling

Left:  pickled beets and red onions, right: pickled radishes

Two frozen onion tarts, ready for impromptu cocktail gatherings!

It seems like a lot of work, but I think it's worth it.  I'm learning more and more about food.  I believe our bodies were meant to eat things in cycles.  I believe in supporting small farmers.  I believe in not eating food that has traveled thousands of miles.

But I have to be a realist - for now, I don't live this creed every day of the week.  I hope to gradually get to the point where more and more of my food is grown by myself, or those that I know personally.  But for now, I do the best I can.

Grilled Artichokes

A few people have asked for this recipe, and I thought I would put it here.

Having grown up in California , where most artichokes are grown, I’ve been eating them all my life.  Having recently left California , I am astounded at how many people are intimidated by artichokes! 

 

Preparation is not hard, and good prep makes for a more edible result! Artichokes can be cut, steamed and marinated several hours before you are ready to grill.

 

 

Ingredients

• 4 artichokes – find the ones that are heaviest for their size. This means they’ve retained plenty of moisture in their trip from CA to your state!
• ½ cup olive oil
• Juice and zest of 2 lemons
• 2T salt
• 1t ground pepper
• 1/4c chopped herbs of choice

 

Preparation 

• Have ready a large pot with an inch or so of well-salted water. Put your lemon discards into this to acidulate the water which will keep the cut parts of your artichokes from turning brown as you work. 
• Strip off 2-3 layers of outer leaves 
• Using a sharp knife, slice of 1 inch of the top, and trim the end of the stem 
• Using kitchen shears, snip any prickly tips that remain on lower leaves 
• Slice the artichoke in ½ lengthwise 
• Using a basic kitchen teaspoon or melon baller, scoop out the “choke” or the fuzzy stuff in the middle. 
• Drop both halves into the water, making sure that the cut surfaces are well coated w/ the water to prevent browning while you prep the remaining artichokes.

 To cook: 

• Cover the pot and place on stove and bring to a simmer. 
• Simmer artichokes until they are barely fork tender at the stem – about 15 minutes, depending on size and freshness. Check frequently! 
• Remove from heat and allow to cool. 

 To marinate: 

• Place remaining ingredients (oil, lemon juice and zest, salt, pepper & herbs) in a zip top bag and mix well. 
• Add artichokes to bag, turning to make sure well coated. 
• Marinate for 1 hour or all day. 

  

To grill: 

• Handle artichokes carefully at this point. Since they are nearly completely cooked, they will be fragile. 
• Using tongs, place artichokes on a medium-high grill with the cut side facing up. 
• If there is any marinade left, spoon or drizzle this into the cavity of the artichoke. 
• Cook for approximately 5 minutes or until char marks appear on the leaves. 
• Carefully turn over (watch out! The excess marinade may cause flare up!), and grill on cut side for another 5 minutes.

 Serve immediately or at room temperature. Prepared like this, they generally need no dipping sauce.

Yes, it's another post about food!

A while back, when I went to my farm share, I got some really cute 8-ball zuchinni.  I just love these little guys and if I ever get any better at gardening, I want to try and grow them for myself.

Someday, when I don't have hungry athletes to feed, just ONE of these, stuffed with random yummy goodness, will be perfectly adequate for a meal for me.

Also at the farm that day were sweet potatoes.  It was a logical step to stuff the squash with that!  So, dice it finely, and sautee with the ubiquitous onion.  And a bit of chili flake, 'cuz you know, I cook in Texas.

Also, the insides of the squash went into the sautee, and then the whole mess got stuffed back into the squash, which had been lightly oiled and well seasoned.  Next, they are roasted in the oven for about 40 minutes.

Surely stuffed squash is a perfectly fine mean on it's own!  But nooooo!  I had to add garlic bread, grilled artichokes, and a bit of steak as well.  Bon appetit!

Okra

Something I've never had until moving to the south is okra.  Gardeners who grow it say it's one of the easiest things to grow around here.  Judging by the overflowing bushels of the stuff every week at Sandra's farm, I would guess that to be no lie!

The classic way to prepare okra is to deep fry it.  That's all well and good, but I searched for a healthier way to use it.  I tried roasting it in various iterations (with garlic, with cherry tomatoes....) and didn't really come up with a way to use it that my family would eat.

Until..... my neighbor shared a jar of pickled okra with me.  It's yummy!  And Bridget loves it!  Time to pickle my own okra, and teach Missy B in the process!

Into the bottom of each jar goes mustard seed, dill, crushed garlic, one fresh jalepeno and one dried red chili.

The pickling liquid is equal parts cider vinegar and water and a whole bunch of pickling salt.  Packing the okra in the jars was a bit of a challenge.  I don't like to use wide-mouth jars so that my canning rings are interchangeable amongst my smaller jelly jars.  But, by alternating big end and little end, and starting with the largest okra pods first, we got the jars stuffed tightly.

Ladle in the hot pickling liquid, and drop them in boiling water to process for 10 minutes and voila!  Pickles!  Bridget loves them in her lunch and I hope we've made enough to get through the winter.

In touch with my food. Literally.

One thing I've learned in trying to eat more local, less processed foods is how much I have to touch my food now.  Whether it's for preservation or just prep for dinner, there is a lot more involved when you quit opening up cans.

Take the purple hull peas.  I'd never had them before.  Farmer Sandra grows them and I was intrigued.  They're a pretty greenish purple and look like beans.

Except they are not.  The edible part lies within the hull and must be painstakingly removed.

Shellin' peas - it can either be relaxing or mind-numbingly boring.

The first time, I did them all by myself.  What began as relaxing soon became monotonous.  It took well over an hour.

I cooked them in sauteed onion and bacon and then boiled them for about 90 minutes.  Delicious!  The kids LOVED them!

So, I decided they were worth the effort and the next time I brought them home from the farm I made it a Family Project to shell the peas.  What began as relaxing soon turned into bickering, adolescent fits, and at least one nameless person leaving the room in tears.

But I digress.

The point is, it took no little while to get all those peas out of their hulls.  But they were worth the work.  Purple hull peas are not something you'd ever find in the grocery store, in a can, or in the frozen food section. They are wonderful and this is the only way you can enjoy them.  By touching every little dang pea.

A few weeks back, when I went to "my farm" to get my veggies, Farmer Sandra had harvested ALL the carrots.  They were not going to stand up to the heat, and needed to be used now or they'd be no good at all.

I pretty much filled my bag with carrots that week, intending to find a way to preserve them.

Homegrown carrots are neither as "pretty" or as large as you find in the grocery store.  But they have a much more robust flavor, and earthiness that all good root vegetables should have.  And a lot more charm in their appearance.

Problem is, before preserving, all of these carrots needed to be vigorously scrubbed.  I'm a scrubber, not a peeler.  I think peeling is wasteful in both taste and mass and nutritional value.  Scrubbing hundreds of little carrots took no little while.

The next challenge is to preserve them in a way that I think enhances their flavor and makes eating them a pleasure rather than a chore.

As usual, I scanned a lot of recipes and decided to go a bit exotic.  Star anise, cinnamon, clove all seemed to be good compliments to their earthy flavor, and some lemon (juice and peel) to brighten the overall effect and contract all that earthiness.

They sure look pretty, but I need to give them a few weeks in the jars before trying them.  I'll let you know how they taste.

All this prep work gives new meaning to "handmade food."