Pasta with Kale

I'm not a huge fan of kale.  I find the taste a little bitter, and the edges a little sharp.  Nevertheless, I get kale periodically in my Misfits Markets boxes, and want to make the best of it.  What to do?  Well, how about adding it to a pasta side?  After all, sneaking more veggies into our food is never a bad thing.

PASTA WITH KALE & TOMATOES

1 pound rotini (or your favorite shape)
1 bunch kale
1/2 box grape tomatoes
1 clove garlic
olive oil
salt & pepper

Cook the rotini according to the box directions; pour into a strainer and cover to keep it warm (really! use the pot lid!).  Return the pot to the stove.

Heat 1 to 2 tablespoons, as needed, in the pasta pot.  Mince up the garlic, and saute it in the olive oil over medium-low heat until soft.  Cut the stems out of the kale, then coarsely chop the leaves.  Cut the tomatoes in halves or quarters, depending upon their size.  Add to the olive oil, turn the heat up slightly, and cook until the kale begins to wilt and the tomatoes soften a bit.  Add salt and pepper to taste, then return the pasta to the pot, stirring to combine, and adding more olive oil if necessary to make sure everything is coated.  Leave it on the heat for a minute to be sure everything's heated through, then serve.

My boy loved this.  Patrick announced that he likes kale better than spinach; Ryan announced that Patrick's a little nuts.  In other words, a normal dinner here in our little corner of the world.

Happy Weekending, everyone!

PS: My sewing blog is live, in case you're interested: Marjie Ann Sews!

More Food With Veggies

Well, there is a lot of veggie inclusion going around in my little corner of the world.  Today I bring you 2 dishes, neither of which was all that spectacular on its own, but which were actually excellent.

TOMATO ZUCCHINI MIXUP

1/4 box grape tomatoes, sliced in half
2 zucchini, sliced
olive oil
2 cloves garlic, chopped
salt and pepper

Slice the zucchini into thin, bite sized slices.  Cut the grape tomatoes in half.  Heat the olive oil in a large saucepan or small skillet, then add the garlic and cook until softened.  Stir in the tomatoes and zucchini slices, then cook, stirring occasionally, until they are fork tender (or as soft as you'd like them).  Add salt to taste, and plenty of pepper.  Even Thatcher approves of this.  OK, he's a dog, and as such, he approves of just about any food you'll share with him.  Still....

RICE MEDLEY

1 Cup rice
2 cups water
1/2 tsp salt
1 tbsp butter
1 onion, diced
1 large carrot, shredded
1 zucchini, sliced
1 summer squash, sliced
1 bunch red or green kale

Put the rice, water and salt in a pan and cook in the usual way.
When the rice is about half done, melt the butter in a saucepan and cook the onion for a minute or 2, until softened (this gets rid of any harsh flavor the onion might add to the other veggies), add the zucchini, summer squash and carrot, and cook for about 5 minutes.  Add the kale, and cook until wilted.   Remove from the heat, and stir into the rice as it's almost finished cooking.

Clearly, I served this with roasted beets and steak, although I can't say I have a clear memory of that.

This is a good way to add veggies to an otherwise boring starch.  Don't get me wrong, I like boring; that's how I've always operated.  But some folks (like my sons) don't.

Happy Monday, everyone!

"These Actually Look Good" Potatoes!

Yes, that is indeed what my youngest son, the perpetual fussbudget, said when I served these potatoes.  I was looking for something easy and a little different one night, and stumbled upon this idea.

THESE ACTUALLY LOOK GOOD POTATOES

Red Skinned potatoes - 1 or 2 per person, plus 1 for the pot
salt
olive oil
minced garlic
fresh ground pepper
parmesan cheese

Wash and slice the potatoes (I used my food processor - the slices needn't be beautiful), and put in boiling salted water.  Cook for about 10 minutes, until partially done.  While the potatoes are cooking, put 1 tbsp of olive oil per 2 potatoes in a small bowl; stir in the garlic (1 clove minced per 4 potatoes or thereabouts), pepper and 1 tbsp parmesan per 2 potatoes, and mix well.  Drain the par-boiled potatoes, return to the pot, pour the olive oil mixture over them, and stir to coat.  Spread out on a greased baking tray, and sprinkle with more parmesan if desired (you can never have too much cheese, after all).  Bake at 350F for about 25 minutes, turning once or twice, until golden brown.  Splendid with roast beef!  Even my fussbudget said so!

I hope my friends to the north and east are doing well with their snow.  It's largely missed us; we might have gotten 4" or so in the last 2 storms, but it's bitter here.  We're talking high temperatures yesterday and today of under 7 degrees, and lows below zero.  I got my garage door unfrozen with Mark's help, but we are staying home until it gets to be at least 15 degrees outside.  Nothing warms up a car when it's this cold.

Happy Monday, everyone!

James Beard's Mushroom Sauce

While reading my James Beard Menu Cookbook, I noted that in the back he's got general purpose recipes.  One of those was for a Mushroom Sauce.  My dearly beloved loves mushrooms, as do many others in my family.  (Longtime readers already know that I don't eat fungus, but I'll feed it to my hungry hordes.)  I decided to give it a try with the meatloaf I made on Thursday.

This is what the inimitable Mr. Beard wrote, back in 1965:

 I updated it a bit, to have less cholesterol - a real necessity in my household.  It was very well received, and I was urged to save the remainder to go with the leftover meatloaf.

JAMES BEARD'S MUSHROOM SAUCE
(Revised)

(1) small can mushrooms
1/2 cup hot chicken or beef broth OR
      1/2 cup hot water plus 1/2 tsp chicken or beef base
2 tbsp soft butter, cut in small pieces
2 tbsp flour
2 tbsp powdered milk
1/2 cup skim milk

Put about 1/2 cup mushrooms, butter, flour, chicken or beef base and milk powder in the food processor with the chopper blade.  Turn on, then add the water (or broth) and process for 1 minute.  Add the milk, process one minute more, then pour into a pan and cook for 5 to 7 minutes over low heat, until it thickens.  If desired, add more mushrooms (because my can was bigger than Mr. Beard's suggested 3 ounces), and heat one minute more.

I've decided on ham for the "Meet the In-Laws" dinners, and I'll be serving much larger batches of this mushroom sauce with it.  The rest of the menu is still in flux, but I'm working on it!

Also, as introduced to me by Louise, this will be my entry to Joyce's Cook Your Books!

Hope you all had a wonderful weekend!

Macaroni Salad for Independence Day

We had thunderstorms last Thursday and Friday nights.  That didn't stop the hungry hordes fromthinking that we should have Independence Day picnics, which I always hold indoors.  (In case you're new here, or have forgotten, I hate eating outside because I don't like bugs.  I also hate cooking outside because (a) I don't like bugs and (b) I hate black lines on my food.  Fussy, Fussy.)

One of the things my hungry horde demanded was macaroni salad.  I've never made such a thing.  My mother loved the stuff, and I just didn't, so cold pasta salads never made it into my repertoire.  So, I winged it.

MARJIE'S MACARONI SALAD

2 pounds elbow macaroni
1-1/2 cups lowfat mayonnaise
1/2 cup sweet pickle relish
1/4 pound carrots, shredded
1 bunch scallions, coarsely chopped
1 cup nonfat milk
1 tbsp dijon mustard
fresh ground pepper

Boil the macaroni, strain and rinse with cold water.  Drop the strainer into iced water for a few minutes to complete the cooling process.  Meanwhile, in a giant bowl, stir together the mayonnaise and dijon mustard.  Whisk the milk into this mixture until it's thinner and creamy.  Add the relish, carrots and scallions, and stir until well combined.  Add pepper to taste (I used 20 turns).  Remove the macaroni from the iced water, shake the strainer well, and stir into the dressing.  Chill and serve.  It tastes better the second day, according to my hordes, who loved it from day one.

So there you are!  An easy side dish for these hot days!

Happy Wednesday, everyone!

Marinated Artichoke Hearts

This is an easy side for a summer meal.  My dearly beloved loves artichokes no matter how prepared, so the other night I decided to surprise him with something he hadn't had in a while.

MARINATED ARTICHOKE HEARTS

Canned Artichoke Hearts

Marinade:

1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
2 tbsp water
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp Italian seasoning
1/4 tsp onion powder
2/3 cup vegetable oil

Drain the artichoke hearts, rinse in cold water, quarter and put in a bowl.  Pour the vinegar and water into a cruet or jar, add the garlic powder, onion powder and Italian seasoning (note: you can use your own blend of seasonings, but I buy mine from Spice Barn, and it's good).  Shake together to blend, then add the oil and shake well.  Pour some over the artichokes and refrigerate for at least an hour.  Stir before serving.

The marinade also makes a great salad dressing.  Note that there's no salt in it, and yet my dearly beloved salt fiend really liked this.  Canned artichokes do have some salt in them, but I'm not about to steam, peel and chop artichokes so I can make these from scratch.  That defeats the point of "fast and easy", don't you think?

Pink Coleslaw!

I'll bet you all thought I forgot how to cook, right?  Not really.  It's a little bit hard to convert things to "Cardiologist Approved" format, and a lot hard to remember to find the fool camera, take a picture, copy the recipe, etc, etc, etc...or maybe I'm just lazy.

Anyway, Ryan went to the supermarket to pick up a few things for our Memorial Day Cook-In (come on, you know I don't grill).  While there, he called me to inquire as to whether I knew how to make coleslaw.  "Sure," I said, "but if not, I can bluff."  So with instruction to come home with cabbage, I was all set to formulate the perfect coleslaw for Ryan and his father.

PINK COLESLAW

1/2 head green cabbage
1/4 head red cabbage
3 carrots (about 1/4 pound)
1-1/2 cups light mayonnaise
4 to 6 tbso white vinegar
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1 tsp dry mustard
1 tbsp celery seed or sesame seed

Scoop the mayonnaise into a large bowl.  Add the vinegar, one tablespoon at a time, stirring to incorporate, until the mixture still holds some shape, but drizzles off the spoon.  Stir in the condiments and set aside.  Shred the carrots and red cabbage with the shredder blade of your food processor and scoop them into the bowl with the mayo mix.  Chop the green cabbage, then use the slicer blade in the food processor to cut it into strips.  Add that to the bowl, then stir the whole thing until the cabbage and carrots are thoroughly coated.  Chill for a minimum of one hour.

I was delighted by the pretty pink color this coleslaw had, and my dearly beloved was amused at my happiness.  He also was surprised at how good it was.  Ryan ate at least 1/3 of this on Saturday morning for breakfast, informing me that he "feasted upon the pink coleslaw."  Best of all, it's extremely low in sodium and with the light mayo there is no cholesterol!  (I've been working on a no-cholesterol mayo, and while my flavor is fine, the consistency is a little lacking, so no posting yet.  But Kraft light mayo has no cholesterol, so that takes some of the pressure off.)

So, there's a great, easy, one-bowl recipe for your summer cookouts or cook-ins!  Remember, Ryan feasted on it, it's just that good!

Happy weekending, everyone!

Artichoke Salad

Happy St. Patrick's Day to all of you!  It's a beautiful Monday here in my little corner of the world, 2 months after my dearly beloved's triple bypass.  There's nothing like a close brush with one's mortality to make every day good, even Mondays!

This recipe came from my new American Heart Association cookbook, sort of.  It actually called for rice and other ingredients, but I just don't think cold rice would be a delightful dish, even if it is called a "salad".  That shouldn't surprise you; I am the same person who dislikes potato salad and macaroni salad, after all.  But this variation of marinated artichokes will delight you.  Heart friendly and low in sodium; what could be better?

ARTICHOKE SALAD

1 pound artichoke hearts, frozen or canned, quartered

Dressing:
2 tbsp grated parmesan cheese
2 tbsp lemon juice
1 tsp dried basil
1 clove minced garlic
1/2 tsp sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1/8 tsp pepper
1 tbsp olive oil

Put all dressing ingredients in the blender in the order given, and blend thoroughly.  Pour over the artichokes, and let it sit for an hour or more before serving.  (Thanks, Audrey, for pointing out that my directions were unclear.)  I doubled the recipe, and had a little left over, which I used on a salad the next day - also wonderful.

Easy, fast and flavorful!  What could be better?

Happy Monday, everyone; enjoy your green beer, food, or whatever you're having!

4th of July Potato Salad

I hate potato salad.  There; I said it.  Now you can all laugh.

But on Memorial Day, my boys pleaded with me to make potato salad ("Don't you know how to make it?  Can you look it up in a cookbook?"), and how could I deny them this all-American picnic food?  Well, they liked it so well that Ryan plopped the bag of potatoes on the counter on the morning of the Fourth, so I wouldn't forget to make it for him.  So, here it is....

THE POTATO SALAD HATER'S POTATO SALAD

5 pounds redskin potatoes, scrubbed
1 cup mayonnaise
1/2 cup sour cream
1/4 cup ranch dressing mix
5 carrots, peeled and shredded
1-1/2 cup pickle slices, shredded

Scrub the potatoes, cut into bite sized chunks, and boil in salted water until just fork tender.  Drain, then cover in cold water and ice to quickly chill them.  While the potatoes are chilling, shred the pickle slices and carrots.  In your serving bowl, stir together the mayonnaise, sour cream and ranch dressing mix (I used low fat sour cream and mayo, and no one knew the difference).  Stir in the carrots and pickle slices, then drain the potatoes again, and stir them into the dressing mixture.  If you want the mixture to have more dressing, add more mayonnaise, and stir well to incorporate.  Store in the refrigerator until serving time.

And I didn't take a picture of this, of course, but the boys ate the whole 5 pounds in 2 days - and there were only 3 of them at home.

So, since food pictures are lacking, how about a picture of Brutus getting a bath on the 4th of July, when we actually had sun in the afternoon - a rare event around here for the last few weeks:

No puppy bath would be complete without said puppy soaking his person.  As you can see, Dan had to hug Brutus to get him to stay in his washtub.  End result:  Both smelled like oatmeal puppy shampoo!

Brutus went for his third puppy shots this morning.  I was concerned when he went for his second shots a month ago, because he only weighed 36 pounds.  But today he's up to 53 pounds, at 3.5 months old.  So he is making progress!

Happy Weekending, everyone!

Little Cooking

I'm betting you all think I've stopped cooking, having nearly fallen off the planet or something.  Nope.  It's just that the crap fallout is still swirling about, and won't stop until mid-June.  I may have valuable insights for you all after it's finished, but, meanwhile, let's enjoy the better weather, shall we?

Anyway, dinner last night:

Corned beef brisket, cooked in the oven with 1" of water around it.  Sour cream potatoes (2 pounds sliced redskin potatoes boiled until tender, drained; 1/4 cup butter and 2 good glumpers - about 1-1/2 cups - sour cream, a goodly handful of fresh or dried chives, a dozen turns of the pepper mill, and milk to thin a little, heated, then the potatoes stirred back in); sugar snap peas sauteed in butter with pepper and salt; corn on the cob.

Excitement is coming this weekend; a report on Monday, I hope!

Happy Weekending, everyone!

Green Beans Provencal

Jeff bought me this cookbook for my birthday last year. He's a great son, isn't he? This is another cookbook with a lot of verbiage and not as many recipes as one might think, but it's pretty.

Anyway, in searching for a new way to cook boring old veggies, I stumbled upon this recipe. It was easy, and gave a while lot more flavor to green beans.

GREEN BEANS PROVENCAL

1 pound whole green beans
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup boiling water
2 tbsp olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 cup chopped parsley leaves
2 tbsp butter

Add the salt to boiling water, add the green beans, and cook for 4 to 5 minutes, until tender-crisp. Pour into a colander to drain and cover with the pot lid to retain the heat. In the same pan, heat the olive oil, then add the garlic and cook for a minute. Add the parsley and cook until it wilts. Return the beans to the pan, stir to coat and heat through. Turn off the heat, add the butter and cover the pan for a minute, until the butter melts. Stir again and serve.

And since I have no pictures of this side dish, you can instead see what my refrigerators look like the day after I get a medium sized food delivery. Of course, there's a separate, small refrigerator which holds 8 gallons of milk, and two freezers for meats and frozen veggies.
I just thought you might like a glance at some of the lunacy which is my life.

Pasta with Tomatoes

Have you tried this pasta?

I decided to try it out recently - you know, the whole eat better and healthier foods, blah, blah, blah - and was surprised by it. It doesn't taste noticeably different from regular pasta, but it contains a whole lot more protein and other nutritional stuff. The biggest surprise, however, was that it doesn't sit as heavy in the ol' tummy after eating. To me, that's a huge plus. I'll be buying this on a regular basis from now on.

Anyway, I used this in a side dish based upon the suggestion on the side of the box. It was pretty good, or so I would conclude, since there were no leftovers.

ANGEL HAIR WITH TOMATOES

1 pound angel hair (I used the "Plus" angel hair)
2 tbsp olive oil
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 28-ounce can tomatoes, coarsely chopped, juices reserved
1 good handful of parsley leaves
1 tsp dried basil (or some fresh basil, if you prefer)
6 turns fresh ground pepper
1/2 cup grated parmesan

Cook the angel hair according to the box directions - 6 minutes for this variety. Pour 1 cup of the cooking water into a measuring cup and reserve; then drain the pasta and cover the colander with the pot lid. Return the pot to the heat, add the olive oil, heat, and stir in the garlic. Cook for a minute or 2, then add the parsley leaves and cook another minute. Add the tomatoes and heat through, then add the basil and pepper. Turn off the burner, return the angel hair to the pot and stir to combine with the tomato mixture. Stir in the parmesan, and add some of the reserved cooking water if needed to moisten it up.
This was a great side dish with our ham, but would also make a fine lunch. Since my guys don't think it's dinner without meat, it wouldn't work as an evening meal in our little corner of the world, but others might have a different opinion!

Hope you all had a nice weekend!

Roasted Roots

It was cold and rainy last night, and I wanted something cooked in the oven to keep me warmer. I had tried this back when we had a couple of cold days in late August, and it was a big hit, so last night this joined roast beef on our plates.

ROASTED ROOTS

2 redskin potatoes per person, plus 1 or 2 for the pot
1 to 2 carrots per person
2 medium onions
4 stalks celery
minced garlic
olive oil
kosher salt
paprika

Wash all veggies. Chop the potatoes into bite sized chunks. Peel the carrots, if desired, or just cut them into bite sized pieces, also. Coarsely dice the onions, cut the celery, mince the garlic, put them all in a roasting pan and mix together. Drizzle olive oil over the mixture, then sprinkle with a small amount of kosher salt and a liberal helping of paprika. Roast at 350F for 1 to 1-1/2 hours, until the potatoes are tender.
The idea for these potatoes came from this cookbook (I changed it to suit me), which was a gift from the relative in Denver. She just adored this cookbook, and she thought I would, too; I wondered just how anyone could take seriously a 240 page cookbook that contains "Over 60 Recipes!" But it was nice of her to think of me.

And, in honor of Thorsday, I might point out that I made these in August, before our boy took ill, and he loved them. So you have the Canine Seal of Approval, too!

Risotto With Corn

I'll bet you thought I'd forgotten how to cook, right? Nope. Just not much different food going on around here these days, with the circus that is my life this summer. Nothing dramatic, just busy.

So, I found a recipe for risotto made with corn in my paper last week. And I thought I could do that. Of course, you know full right and well that it's been made a little easier by me, your favorite lazy cook. So, risotto made with corn is different, but it did meet with approval from the hungry hordes.

RISOTTO WITH CORN

olive oil
1/2 cup chopped chives or green onions
2 cups white rice*
4 to 5 cups chicken broth
2 cups corn, pureed in the food processor
ground black pepper
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese

Heat the olive oil to a simmer in a large pan, add the chives or green onions, and saute 2 to 3 minutes, until soft. Add the rice, cook and stir another 3 to 4 minutes. Add the 1 cup of the chicken broth, and stir well. Cook until most of the broth is gone, and stir in another cup of the broth. Repeat with the third cup of broth. With the fourth cup of broth, add the pureed corn and pepper, stir well, and continue simmering, stirring occasionally. Add the fifth cup of broth, if necessary, and stir in the parmesan just before all of the liquid is absorbed.

*Note: the recipe called for Arboria rice, but I didn't have it. I also have the impression it costs an exorbitant amount per pound, and I'm too cheap to lay out a lot for starch. Just sayin'. It didn't tell me explicitly to stir the rice constantly, as most risotto recipes do, so I didn't, and it was fine.

Ryan spent the meal playfully whining about my habit of putting weird things in his rice, but Dan deemed it pretty good. So, as Ryan was rinsing his plate, he offered one last complaint about yellow and green things in his rice, so Dan got his low velocity air soft pistol and shot Ryan in the butt. Yes, I let the boys play with airsoft pistols, and even shoot each other while doing so. Before I did, I shot myself in the leg. It stung pretty well, but the boys don't wear skirts, and don't shoot each other from 2 feet apart, so there's no harm. And most of the time they do this out in the yard, wandering around in the fresh air and sunshine, so I have no gripe there. And when Dan bellows, "I'm defending my mother's honor and cooking!" who can argue?

Hope you all had a great weekend!

Fried Rice

Last weekend, the kids took it upon themselves to get Chinese food. Never one to object to a cooking night off, I paid the bill.

Of course, any time you get Chinese food, you get a ton of white rice. What to do with it, other than make soup or rice pudding? Here you go. Fried Rice.

FRIED RICE

3 tbsp peanut oil
1/2 cup chopped onion
6 scallions, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp grated or finely chopped gingerroot
2 cups cold dry-cooked white rice
4 tsp soy sauce
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1 cup bean sprouts

Heat the peanut oil in a skillet and add the onion, scallions, garlic and gingerroot; saute until soft. Add the rice and cook until warmed through. Stir in the soy sauce. Make a hole in the center of the rice and pour in the egg. Cook slightly, and then stir to scramble. When it's cooked, break up the scrambled egg into small pieces, mix well with the rice, stir in the bean sprouts and heat through. Serve at once.

This really only takes a few minutes. But my brain's been so fried the past 2 weeks that I forgot to take a picture. So, instead, I'd like to show you that my lawn has turned green this week! Hooray! We might actually get spring soon!

Roasted Green Beans

Alternate title: "You actually made green beans taste good!"

This was Dan's reaction to these beans. Truth be told, I borrowed this idea from Pam in Oregon, whose pictures always put mine to shame. But let's just enjoy this nice side dish, shall we?

Olive Oil
3 cloves garlic, diced
1-1/2 pounds frozen whole green beans
salt and pepper to taste

Preheat the oven to 425F. Pour a little olive oil in the bottom of an ovenproof dish, approx. 7"x10". Add the garlic and stir to coat. Put it in the oven for a couple of minutes, until the olive oil heats up and the garlic begins to brown, then remove the pan. Rinse the frozen green beans in cold water to remove all frost. Spoon the green beans into the olive oil, sprinkle with a small amount of salt and pepper, then stir the beans to coat them with olive oil and distribute the garlic among them. Cook about 6 to 7 minutes, remove from the oven and stir the beans from the center of the pan to the outer edge. Return to the oven for another 6 to 7 minutes. 12 minutes cooking time makes the beans tender-crisp; cook them a little longer if you want them softer. Serve at once.

This is a great winter recipe. It uses frozen veggies, which are much easier to obtain and store (especially for those of us who venture out only rarely), and throws a great deal of flavor onto your plate. Thanks, Pam, for the inspiration!

Easy Pasta Side Dish

I have a lot of fans of pasta with white clam sauce around here, but I don't want to serve it as a main dish. I have concocted a lighter version, with fewer clams but still plenty of flavor. Real Italians, please don't be offended that I've messed with your food heritage.

PASTA WITH WHITE CLAM SAUCE AS A SIDE

1 pound linguini, spaghetti or angel hair
2 6-ounce cans of whole clams
olive oil
3 minced garlic cloves
1 bunch scallions, chopped
1 bunch parsley, chopped
copious amounts of fresh ground black pepper
2 cups pasta cooking water

Cook the pasta according to the package directions. Pour some of the cooking water into a 2 cup measuring cup, and set aside, then drain the pasta and put your pot lid on top of the colander to keep the pasta hot. Return your pot to the stove, and pour enough olive oil into the pot to just cover the bottom. Turn the stove to medium heat and saute the minced garlic and scallions for a minute. Add the parsley, and cook another minute. Add the clams with the juice from the can, quickly heat through, then add the pasta back to the pan and turn off the heat. Stir the pasta to combine it with the sauce, and add enough of the reserved pasta water to give it your desired consistency. Serve at once.

This is very fast, very flavorful and relatively low calorie (and it only uses one pan, so cleanup is easy). What more could you want in January, when we are all still resolving to lose a few pounds?

(And, yes, we are still using our Christmas dishes. I'm not allowed to put them away until all of the kids have returned to college, January 17th).

Blueberry Jam

Don't get all excited. I'm not a talented jam maker. I'm barely competent, and that's only because of my bread machine and a cookbook someone gave me for Christmas several years back.

That having been said, this is a very flavorful jam.

BLUEBERRY JAM

1 pound fresh blueberries (or thawed frozen berries)
1/2 packet pectin
1-1/2 cups sugar
3 tbsp Creme de Cassis

Lightly crush or pulse the blueberries, pour in the bread machine bucket and add the sugar. Let it sit 15 minutes for the sugar to dissolve, then sprinkle on the pectin and pour in the Creme de Cassis. Turn your bread machine to the Jam cycle, start it up, let it do its thing, and take lots of credit for being a wonderful jam maker.

The recipe didn't call for the berries to be crushed, but they are too big in the finished jam without crushing (at least, in my opinion).

And the little old lady with the books is very excited that Jeff will come start picking up those books for me on Thursday. I figure it might well take him 2 trips, because 2000 books have to weigh a lot. (She told me she had sold the art books; was that OK?) Let's hope it stops raining by Thursday!

Courgette Au Garlique

So, let's pretend that this is a proper French title for this side dish. I know you'll all cut me some slack when you realize that I haven't taken French since high school, too many decades ago for me to admit, and have never actually spoken the language. But, really, this is a way to help you all with your zucchini glut, and give you a different, fancy name to offer your family, so they'll be excited before they get to the table and realize it's the same old veggie.

Courgette Au Garlique

2 to 3 zucchini, sliced
2 medium tomatoes, cut into bite sized pieces
4 tbsp butter
1/2 tsp salt
20 turns fresh ground pepper
2 to 3 cloves garlic, minced

Melt the butter in a sauce pan. Add the garlic, and saute a minute or 2, until soft. Add the rest of the ingredients, and cook until the zucchini is tender.
It makes an excellent side dish for a bland meal such as turkey and rice. And the vivid colors certainly help!
Bon Appetit!

Eggplant? Really?

People laugh at me because I have food rules. In case you're blissfully unaware of them, allow me to give you a good laugh:

1. No peppers. I'm allergic. So this one isn't funny.
2. No fungus. I'll cook them for mushroom lovers in my house, sometimes, but I don't eat fungus.
3. Food segregation. My food can't be mixed, and really shouldn't touch.
4. No roots, except orange ones. I'll cook with onions, but pick them out of my food, and I don't like potatoes. Again, I'll cook them for my family, but I'm not a fan.
5. No purple food! Everyone else can have grape jam, and I've even made it, but I don't eat purple food.

So, imagine my surprise and horror when my farmer brought me not one, but TWO, eggplants.

Ryan's "How to fix food" book suggests that eggplant can be fixed by encasing it in concrete and dropping it in the East River. OK with me, because it's purple food, but it was in my house and needed something done with it, and the East River is about 100 miles away. So off to my cookbooks I went for suggestions. I have forgotten exactly where I found this, but I believe it was either Craig Claiborne or Fannie Farmer.

STUFFED EGGPLANT

1 eggplant
1 cup bread crumbs
1/4 cup grated parmesan
1/4 cup melted butter
salt & pepper to taste

Boil the eggplant in a large pot for 15 to 20 minutes. Cut it in half lengthwise and carefully scoop all of the meaty center out without breaking the shell (and good luck with that!) Coarsely chop all of the eggplant, including the seeds, and stir in with the rest of the ingredients. Place the eggplant shells in a greased, curved baking dish, which will support the shell while it's cooking, re-stuff the eggplant shell with the eggplant/breadcrumb mix, and bake at 350F for about 45 minutes, until it's lightly browned on the outside.
So, I wrecked one of my 2 shells. And the eggplant looked most unappetizing. So I grated some extra sharp cheddar cheese over the top before serving it. At least the cheese looked pretty.

As for the eggplant? Well, the best review I got for it was, "It has no flavor." The next day, my daughter's Italian friend was here, gooing that she loves eggplant. When she wasn't looking, I put the second one in her purse. Good thing the girls these days carry big honkin' purses.

So, my final word? In defense of eggplant, it is a very pretty vegetable, second to none. However, I still don't like purple food. Christo, I know you're out there laughing at me!