Fixin' Supper

A moveable feast

2006-06-24T21:47:00.000-05:00

I finally did it. I got tired of paying for that TypePad account and not using it.

As of now, I've moved. This blog now lives at http://www.fixinsupper.com.

Thanks.

The George Bush of mashed potatoes

2006-06-24T19:29:00.000-05:00

Fool me twice, people.

I have been making mashed potatoes since I was 12 years old. Let's not do the math but suffice to say, that's plenty long enough to know how. Lately I have been looking up recipes for this very very basic dish because mine are not coming out close enough to the ones I grew up with.

Now, I'll start by saying, I already know what's wrong with the way I make them. [This is not the fool me twice part. Please be more patient.] Back where I come from, to steal a phrase, we did not make our mashed potatoes with 1% milk. And we used more butter. So my goal here is, make them so as they won't kill me, but still taste awesome. I know this is possible. I just know it.

So, I have been doing that which I NEVER do, and I have been actually FOLLOWING recipes. And both times, it has bitten me in the butt. Last time, they were so soupy, I literally made them into potato soup [7yo refused to touch] because they were unredeemable as mashed potatoes.

This time around, I knew the instant I poured the milk in that it had happened again [different recipe, same result], though a tad less soup-like. You just couldn't quite see the potatoes for all that milk. I was able to cook the milk down and return them to mashed potatoes, albeit really soupy ones. Cooking the milk out of your mashed potatoes is not where you want to be, in case you're wondering.

Next time? Screw the cookbooks. I think I'll buy some whole milk and use my regular fbtsomp* recipe.

*Fly by the seat of my pants

New BBQ joint

2006-06-13T20:06:00.000-05:00

Well I've apparently let my blog really lapse since the 10mo came home in March. Frankly, in my head I still post all the time so I had no idea I was falling down on the job so badly. I apologize, if there is in fact anyone still reading. Besides my mom. (Hi, Mom!)

I ran across a new BBQ joint on the web today. Sounds funny but it's true. I haven't even had a chance to check it out yet but this guy is blogging his restaurant, so how can you go wrong?

I will report back as soon as I know more. Meanwhile, check out Mothership BBQ!

Party in a bag

2006-04-23T21:03:00.001-05:00

So I love Publix. I know I have mentioned this before. I could change my blog's name to the "I love Publix" blog and I would feel completely OK with that. I discovered about three weeks ago that unbeknownst to me, at some point in the past few months, this blessed chain opened a store in Brentwood, a mere 14 miles from my house.

I haven't yet counted the grocery stores I drive past to get to the Publix (substantial number, I feel sure), but I am not feeling bad about that.

So strolling through the Publix the other day, I discovered this great little product from the Lundberg rice folks. If you haven't ponied up for Lundberg rice yet, please do. It is worth every penny. And the Lundberg Jubilee rice is so pretty that I described it to my sister as looking like "a party in a bag." At which point she says we have different understandings of the word party.

Nonetheless, I determined that we must do something special with this beautiful rice. So we found this awesome recipe from Crescent Dragonwagon's Passionate Vegetarian cookbook...combined brown rice, mushrooms, corn, carrots, onions, garlic, sundried tomatoes and her dragon salt. You bake in the oven. Wow!!! We've decided that, all due respect to CD, we'll probably unfortunately end up calling this dish "party in a bag" forever.

Deja vu

2006-04-08T14:14:00.000-05:00

Yesterday Nashville's suburbs were ripped by a number of tornadoes. I spent most of the afternoon glued to my TV and weather radio....the whole situation was a bad reminder of April 16, 1998, when my neighborhood was devastated by a large tornado.

This time around it was much more emotionally complicated of course -- with a 1st grader scheduled to get out of school about the time the storms were coming in, you're faced with one of those awful choices you have to make as a parent: Should I rush over to pick her up? Well how stupid would that be, considering that they'll lock down the school for the tornado safety plan, and I'll be out on the street in a car and she'll be safe in the school basement?

And is she safer at my house than her after-care? Well actually, probably not. There's a basement there and we don't have one at home.

And wouldn't it freak her out if I rushed in to pick her up? Probably. You have to explain stuff to 6yos. They don't just accept everything at face value anymore.

So in fact, the only thing that would be improved by my picking her up would be my emotional state, briefly. Hmmm.

In the end, after several phone conversations, her dad and I decided she was just fine at school and that's where she stayed. Here's the best part. Was she scared? Heck no. She was mad that in the emergency preparations, she'd had to leave her backpack and lunchbox in the classroom, and that by Monday, the plastic bags in her lunchbox will be distgusting. She'll have to throw them away instead of reusing them -- as in, reduce, reuse, recycle. She's all ready for Earth Day.

Talked with several friends from the 'hood today while our girls all had their dance lesson -- everyone had been through a similar experience to mine yesterday afternoon. We were all reminded far too much of the '98 tornado, and shaken by how close (11 miles) some of the damage was yesterday.

More dramatic damage was only slightly farther to the north, in Gallatin, TN, home of my coworker Bill Hudgins and his wife Wilda Dodson. They are fine but have many friends affected.

While we could have a tornado at almost any time of year in Nashville (several years ago both Clarksville and Jackson, TN, were hit by enormous twisters in January, of all times), the spring always seems the most volatile, with lots of temperature fluctuations and rapidly changing weather. Here's to summer.

We pause from this food blog

2006-03-12T17:53:00.000-06:00

To shout out to the Memphis Tigers, who earned their No. 1 seed in the NCCA tournament. A source of speculation ever since conference play began, this is a well-deserved reward and I hope the Tigers play up to their potential and win the whole dang thing.

While I am a Vandy grad, I was raised to cheer for both schools, with my dad a Commodore alum and my mom an MSU grad. I'm one of those cantankerous folks who still calls it "Memphis State," bless my heart. I remember the anguish in '85 when the Tigers lost to Villanova one game away fr the national championship, back in the era of Keith Lee, William Bedford, Vincent Askew and the rest....this is all before Dana Kirk left in disgrace. Oh, and convicted of tax evasion. Oops.

But back to the hardwood....These guys have been an exceptional team with heart and soul to spare. Here's to a run to the Final Four!

Potato pancakes

2006-03-11T18:56:00.000-06:00

Potato pancakes
Originally uploaded by lcreekmo.

When I was a little girl, one of my favorite nights was potato pancake night. Anytime we had leftover mashed potatoes, my mom would mix these up and fry them. They aren't quite the same as what you'd expect at a Jewish deli--most of the ones I've had at such establishments are grated or riced in some fashion before being mixed with the other ingredients and cooked.

But they are easy, bad for you and delicious...all the hallmarks of a good Southern snack. They are also one of the 10 things my 6yo will eat, bless her heart.

Potato Pancakes

2 c. or so of leftover mashed potatoes
1 egg
Milk
1/4 to 1/3 c. all-purpose flour
Salt
Pepper

Mix the egg, flour, salt and pepper (those two to taste) into the mashed potatoes. Add some milk. You want them to be unstiff and easier to stir, but not even close to soupy. The best pancakes come when you drop a spoonful in the skillet and there's still a little peak on top, until you flip it to the second side.

Heat a little oil (just enough to coat) on your griddle or in a cast-iron skillet, medium heat. Canola is best, very little taste of its own.

When the oil is HOT, drop spoonfuls of batter into the skillet. Let the first side brown then flip, flattening the pancake.

Drain on paper towels and eat hot.

Party w/ Mr. Roboto

2006-03-09T13:15:00.000-06:00

Always a good time...at least that's what I hear. This is the first party he's ever scheduled when I can attend. I have tried really hard not to be offended.

Tonight, 3 Crow Bar then Lipstick Lounge. I like that he's brought the party to my 'hood. It does begin to make up for all those blog parties he scheduled at bad times for me.

Cooking death trap

2006-03-03T22:31:00.000-06:00

Cooking for children dulls your brain. I'm sorry, they're lovely and I can't live without them but how much mac & cheese can one person take?

When I got pregnant more than seven years ago now, I bought all these great books on child nutrition. They all tell you how to raise a child who eats a well-rounded diet, enjoys fruits and vegetables, and shuns junk food. Bullsh*t. Frankly I was actually doing pretty well at that until my child hit elementary school itself. Though she has basically the same best friends she always has, her diet grows ever more limited.

More TV? I don't know. I think it's just growing independence. Even though she is very well grounded in what is and isn't good for her, what she wants is Velveeta every night.

Lately I've been on this kick, deciding that if she helps cook, then certainly she'll enjoy eating it. Wrong. She likes to cook most anything but still, she eats what she eats.

I really shouldn't complain; I've seen much pickier eaters, and I have to continually remind myself that she is obviously healthy and there's no need for concern. Mostly, it's my own selfish interest at stake here. With just the two of us in the house, it's ridiculous to make two separate meals. And I'm sick of chicken nuggets myself.

Always a success

2006-02-26T20:55:00.000-06:00

Just got back from a GREAT potluck--several folks collected from different places, great food and drink--and the dish I took was a big hit, if I can say so myself. I don't make this carrot casserole all that often but every time I do, people are happy. I think it all goes back to one of the basic theories of Southern cooking: just add more butter and more eggs.

I got this recipe from my mother, who's made it for many years. I have no idea of the actual origins of it.

Carrot Casserole

2 cups mashed, cooked carrots (about 2 lbs.) (Once I steamed the carrots, I mashed them into say, 1/4-inch-square bits with a pastry blender.)
1 cup cracker crumbs (saltine crackers)
1 cup milk (I was actually out of milk tonight and used half and half. Mmm.)
3/4 cup grated sharp cheddar cheese
1 cup softened margarine
1/4 cup grated onion
1 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
3 eggs

Combine all ingredients except eggs. Beat eggs until slightly puffy and fold into carrot mixture. Pour into a well-greased 1 1/2 quart ring mold or a long rectangular baking dish. Bake at 350 for 40 to 45 minutes.

Blog lite

2006-02-12T16:57:00.000-06:00

OK normally I never do this kind of stuff, but when my boss tagged me I reconsidered. Also, I got to thinking -- I wasn't sure at first that I had even had a TOTAL of four jobs in my life, never mind more. I have finally thought of five, but I only held one for two weeks. (Please comment if you know somewhere else I've actually been employed.) So the oddity of making it to be 34 years old and only having five jobs made me change my mind about this.

Four jobs I've had: Cashier @ Piggly Wiggly, typist at airplane repair facility, communications coordinator at Tennessee Society of CPAs, director of content. (Please note, I really think that's every paying job I've ever had except my current one. I am unsure....I MIGHT have had a part-time job one summer in college while I was taking summer school. I can't remember if it was volunteer or pay. Of course, I started my current job in July 1994. So maybe that's not so weird.)

Four movies I can watch over and over: The American President, You've Got Mail, Sabrina, Sweet Home Alabama (See, this is why I don't answer these questionnaires. I'm revealed for the sap that I am.)

Four TV shows I love to watch: West Wing, Jag, Numbers, Grey's Anatomy

Four places I've been on vacation: Sri Lanka, Destin, Grand Tetons, Cherokee, NC

Four favorite dishes: Well this is really hard. I'm not sure I can answer this but I'll try. Beef stroganoff, sausage dip (it's really junk-food and sinful; don't ask), tomato sandwiches, great cornbread

Four websites I visit daily: Well, I have an RSS reader, too, but I still visit these sites every day: NFIB.com, CNN, NYT, Tennessean

Where would I rather be: Destin, Grand Tetons, Hilton Head, at a Cardinals game

Here is a great food blog

2006-01-25T21:57:00.000-06:00

Will totally make you hungry. Very, very pretty food and fascinating info fr Sean Brock, the executive chef at Nashville's Capitol Grille.

Get this cookbook

2006-01-25T07:10:00.000-06:00

If you don't have the Moosewood Cookbook, I insist you rush out now to get a copy. When I first heard about it, gosh more than 10 years ago now, I was really skeptical. At the time, I was still very close to my meat and potatoes upbringing. (Of course now my mother, the aforementioned upbringer, doesn't cook that way anymore either!) Moosewood is a vegetarian cookbook but if you're not paying close attention, you'll never notice. The dishes are easy to make, but most important, hearty and satisfying.

I am thinking about Moosewood this morning because I know I have this delicious dish from Moosewood still in the office fridge. I made it the other day and have just enough left to have at least a snack today. Well, of course, as you know, I didn't actually look at the recipe when I made it. :) I have made it so many times I didn't bother to get the cookbook out. But I followed the Moosewood premise!

Here's what I mixed up:
1 can chickpeas, drained
1/2 small red onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, chopped
A little fresh ginger
Olive oil
Red vinegar

Be careful with the latter two -- you don't want the goodies swimming in the oil and vinegar. I added a little salt to taste, and then because I had some nice ones, I chopped and threw in some black olives. Delicious!

Making good on a promise

2005-12-26T18:29:00.000-06:00

So for some reason — I never do this — I was reading back over some previous blog postings of mine from the past few weeks. And discovered that not once, but twice, I said I'd post the Golden Baked Potatoes recipe. And have I done so??? Noooooo. I apologize if I have thereby ruined anyone's Christmas dinner. Since no one emailed me, I assume not. LOL.

Here it is:

Golden Baked Potatoes
8 medium red potatoes (4 to 5 lbs.)
1 stick butter
2 c. half and half (I have used 2% milk and it is STILL sinfully rich!!)
8 oz. sharp cheddar, cut in small cubes
1 T. salt

At least two days before serving, cook potatoes in boiling water until tender. Drain, cool, cover and refrigerate. (Ziploc bag is good.) On serving day, peel skins off and grate potatoes. Heat cream, salt and butter until butter is melted - do not boil. Mix cheese cubes into potatoes and pour warm cream mixture over and pour into large rectangular pyrex baking dish. If desired, top with more grated cheese about 15 minutes before end of baking time. Bake uncovered in 350 oven for 1 hour and 15 minutes.

My mother writes: The number of servings vary, depending on whether or not a Creekmore is dining with you. Heh. I promise not to come over when you're serving this dish. But the real danger is my youngest sister, I'll just warn you in advance.

This is dumb

2005-12-26T18:11:00.000-06:00

I have no idea why but for the first time, I just went to the TV Guide website. Don't bother. I typed in my ZIP code to get local listings, and it couldn't figure out from my ZIP code that I'm in Central time. C'mon. It's not like I live in Indiana, y'all.

OK back to the kitchen. Here's the latest. If you're in Nashville and you know where I can get those Rainbow heat n' serve rolls that are essential for making those awesome ham and cheese rolls you find at all good church potlucks, email me at lcreekmo at gmail.com!! As best I can figure — or at least, I hope — the Rainbow bread man just did not run today. I went to three different grocery stores and all were out. T-H-R-E-E. If you have read about my shopping habits before, you know this about killed me. (On the bright side, Plumgood Food now does next-day delivery. BUT they don't carry Rainbow rolls either.) (Bill, if you are reading, I may actually be willing to drive to Gallatin if the stores are not restocked tomorrow. Somehow, I have this feeling that the Gallatin Publix has these in stock. Because, they are grocery Nirvana, right??)

Chocolate-covered cherries: Check

2005-12-24T21:58:00.000-06:00

They're happening, folks. I have the maraschinos on a cookie sheet right now and the fondant is "resting" for its 1-hour break. In just a few minutes I have to go find room in the fridge for 90 fondant-covered cherries overnight. Hahahahahahha. I really need to save up for a second refrigerator. Mine is so stuffed right now.

These cherries are coming to us courtesy of friend and neighbor Jeff Ockerman, who had paraffin. I looked and looked at the local Kroger today but couldn't find a canning section. Jeff's wife Ann says that the Kroger up the road has one, but by then (this discussion was taking place after the 4 p.m. Christmas Eve church service) it was almost too late to get anywhere else to look, though I was about to try. Jeff ran to his house and one box of paraffin later, we're in business. (If you've not made these before at home, you add just a little bit of paraffin to make the chocolate set and harden. A small but essential ingredient.)

Recipe and photo to follow tomorrow afternoon. Merry Christmas!

Let the frenzy begin

2005-12-20T19:13:00.000-06:00

It's a crazy time here in December. Just a few more days of work this week then I'm off for the rest of the year! But not like I'll be relaxing--my family hits town Dec. 28 and we will be extremely busy with the typical Creekmore activities of eating, watching movies and perhaps some eating. I'm sure wine will also be consumed. I have also heard rumor of four parties in the space of five days. Come Jan. 2, I think we'll all be glad to be back at work.

So, what food will I be making for my family? I am not sure yet. My sister and mom have both been on the South Beach diet this year and have done so well with it, so I am trying to tailor some of our meals to these principles so that everyone will enjoy the food and not feel guilty! One problem: I've never read the book. I am thinking of getting a menu together here in the next few days to run by my sister.

Then of course I will have to make my traditional holiday treats: fudge, caramel, divinty if the weather is good--I have not made this in several years because it's always been raining the day I've made candy!!--and if I get REALLY ambitious, chocolate covered cherries. Actually just thinking about those really makes me want some. The homemade ones are SOOO good. They take forever but they are worth it.

OK more on all this later. I will have to report in on what we actually do cook.

What I'm up to

2005-12-11T22:48:00.000-06:00

So I've been cooking a lot lately and in my head, I'm blogging every recipe. It's really kind of funny....now, every time I cook, I'm editing a post in my head. You see how often I actually get to the computer and type them in, though.

Two things (of the several) I cooked this weekend bear mention in real life, though.

I was in charge of refreshments today at church. Here's what I took:

Carrots and vegetable dip (recipe below)
Cheese krispies
Cookies -- These were some of those frozen ones from a school fundraiser. They were done in 10 minutes and the way the kids ate them I should have baked twice as many.

The adults loved the first two items though.

Vegetable dip
1 pint sour cream
1 pint Hellman's (I use light on both)
1 t. pepper
1 t. salt
1 t. garlic powder
1 t. onion powder

Mix. Make 24 hours ahead.

Now for the second discussion....french toast. I have never in my life made this before today. Not ever. So when we saw an ad for freezer, store-bought "french toast sticks" on cartoons yesterday, after the 6yo started demanding them, I said, oh we can just whip those up in the morning. No need to buy them.

Right.

Four egg-soaked, burned pieces of bread later, I'm here to tell different. For once I followed a recipe -- maybe that was the problem?? -- and they were mush! mush I say! on the inside. For the second batch, I didn't let them soak in the batter at all and they tasted better but they weren't that rich french toast taste you expect. But the 6yo thought those were great and wanted more. Of course I was out of fixings by then.

So now I have a quest....figure out how to really make french toast. (Isn't this supposed to be one of those "guy" recipes? You know, the bachelor who can't cook, but he can whip up french toast in the morning? It shouldn't be this hard!!) Clearly something was wrong with the first recipe. My suspicion is the cooking instructions. But I'll have to work on it and report back.

Amen.

2005-12-07T20:46:00.000-06:00

I have been saying all this for years. If you never heard me say it, just listen to the New York Times. While I would not turn down the fancy stuff, I cook everything in my cast-iron skillet.

On the menu

2005-11-26T09:17:00.000-06:00

So here's what we had over Thanksgiving at the Creekmore home in Florida:
Wednesday night

Beef stroganoff
Rice
Homemade applesauce
Ambrosia
Green bean casserole (made vastly better by Publix green beans...am stopping at Destin Commons to get some on the way home, since I live more than 30 minutes from all Nashville-area Publix stores)
Chocolate cake

Thanksgiving dinner

Smoked turkey (My dad has been doing this for years, but this was his best ever.)
*Golden Baked Potatoes
Cream-style corn
Cornbread dressing
Rolls (These were Sister Schubert's because I forgot to make the homemade ones the night before. For years this has been my job and I totally forgot. I apologize to all.)
Ambrosia (My poor mother has been making this both with and without coconut for years due to some -- ahem -- picky eaters in our family.)
Homemade cranberry sauce
Canned cranberry sauce, for the '70s purists
Chocolate chess pie
Mincemeat pie
Pecan pie

Since then, we've mostly been eating leftovers (mincemeat pie, chocolate chess pie and potatoes make a lovely breakfast), of which there are plenty, except that last night my sister made this delicious balsamic chicken and roasted vegetable meal for us all. It was delicious and -- get this -- as opposed to all Thanksgiving tradition -- actually good for you.

* Recipe to follow soon.

Better than I could say

2005-11-23T20:30:00.000-06:00

Where do we go from here?

Best week of the year

2005-11-22T22:53:00.000-06:00

Well I know I do love my summer vegetables, but hands down, the best culinary week of the year must be this one. And part of it is because Thanksgiving gets at the intersection of food and the brain....It's been too long since my neuroscience class in college. Is it serotonin? Endorphins? Regardless, we're not eating because we're in need of calories. That's long since done. Thanksgiving is about the emotion behind the food -- the guilt, the love, the gratefulness and the why-don't-you-call-more-oftenness all whipped into the sweet potatoes and green bean casserole, at least if you're from 'round here.

So I don't like reading these reminders of the devestation on the Gulf. Shawn Lea tells the human toll well and hits me where I need it....it does need to be in my face. It is my problem. Guess I can't keep being a John Donne fan if I can't deal.

In my neighborhood within the past couple of weeks, two people were murdered. While my neighborhood is urban, random violent crime is rare enough that these incidents have jolted the entire community. And when you imagine the deaths of a 15-year-old and a 33-year-old, just like that, in an instant, again, we get back to a more elemental meaning of Thanksgiving. Today is a gift. What did you do with it? What if this is the last one you get? Did you do everything you needed to? I don't get into the sappy quotes -- hey, that's my sisters' realm ;) -- but on some level, I can move beyond my cynicism and look at the basics.

So this weekend, here's what I'm doing:
* Spending time with the family.
* Eating (back to the brain chemicals, but have I mentioned my mother's golden baked potatoes? No? Recipe to follow.)
* That's about it.

Blessings to you and peace on this holiday weekend.

The problem is what to call it

2005-10-09T11:28:00.000-05:00

I looked around this a.m. and saw that I had a butternut squash, a sweet potato and an onion. Sometimes, I just can just look at the ingredients and taste the finished dish, and instantly know how to get from here to there. This was one of those times. I have had all of these items for more than a week, bought them separately, with no particular purpose at the time, but it all came together this morning.

I will say that this is an expensive and time-consuming way to cook. I am certain that I waste a lot of food because its companion ingredients never show up at the same time. And likewise, I end up running out to the store because I don't have sour cream when I need it, or whatever. This is part of why I have such an enormous pantry -- I have a compulsion to have as much as possible on hand at any given time, because I rarely know what I'm going to cook before I cook it.

Oh, I've tried. My whole life. I live and die by my Franklin planner, and I have the menu pages. I can't use them. Sometimes I even write out a weekly menu and purchase the ingredients. It ends up only having a tangential relationship to what I cook that week, of course.

At any rate, back to today. I peeled and cut up the squash [does anyone recommend a knife that easily peels and cuts a butternut? I will pay any price.], sweet potato and onion into 1-inch chunks. I heated the oven up to the 425 degree range.

I spread the veggies out on a cookie sheet I'd sprayed with Pam, and drizzled just a bit of olive oil on them. It was less than 1/4 cup, I feel like. I also sprinkled them with some dried basil, oregano and thyme. And salt and pepper.

I roasted them til they were browning and cooked, stirring them several times.

Then I scraped the whole pan into my soup pot and just covered them with chicken broth. I simmered them for probably an hour total, adding more broth several times. I probably ended up using about 1 1/2 c. I added some garlic -- several cloves -- near the end.

When everything was really mushy and starting to fall apart, I pureed in the food processor. If you'd been coming for dinner, I would have kept going til it was really smooth. But I'm planning to eat all this myself :) so I just de-chunked it. Then I added maybe 1 cup of milk, warmed the whole thing up and ate.

It's delicious.

As I say above, the only problem is, what do you call it? Butternut squash sweet potato soup does not roll off the tongue.

For shame

2005-09-20T23:51:00.000-05:00

So the writer types at work are coming to my house tomorrow for our annual editorial brainstorm. And what am I cooking for them?

Umm.

Nothing.

I ordered out some really great barbecue though!! And I AM cleaning my house. Oh, and I'm making fresh brewed iced tea. That's gotta be worth something. Want the recipe?

Everyone needs this

2005-09-18T21:45:00.000-05:00

I did not know until relatively late in my hopefully still-young life how essential peanut sauce was for your average pasta. Let's just say that growing up in Bolivar, TN, I didn't get many opportunities to eat authentic Thai food. Or even cheap, Disney-imitation Thai food.

So a few years ago, a girl I used to work with sent me a recipe for "peanut butter noodles" and while skeptical, I gave them a try.

Now I'll be the first to tell you that I've since tried many different kinds of peanut sauce and noodles, and this is possibly the least authentic version I've ever had. But it has two great virtues that overrule that inauthenticity, most of the time.
1. It's really darn easy and
2. I can often get the 6yo to eat it too.

I don't make it exactly according to the recipe I received from my erstwhile coworker, because I don't keep scallions on hand at all times [so sue me] and more important, if you've ever eaten with a 6yo, you know that anything with random colored flecks in it arouses substantial suspicion.

Easy peanut butter noodles
1/3 cup peanut butter
1/3 cup hot water [fr pasta]
2 t. soy sauce
2 t. rice wine vinegar
1 t. sugar [You may not need this if you're using regular commercial peanut butter, which is AWFULLY sweet.]
2 garlic cloves, chopped
Chopped scallions [I don't use]
Red pepper flakes [I don't use]

Mix all until it is a smooth sauce. Serve with hot noodles. Sprinkle with sesame seeds and/or chopped peanuts.

Keep Cookin'

2005-09-14T16:08:00.000-05:00

My company is working on an effort to aid Louisiana Cookin', a great publication based in -- you guessed it -- New Orleans. Now based out of an RV in Baton Rouge, and several other locales, the magazine is still going and working on the next issue. If you're a food blogger, spread the word about their update blog, Keep Cookin', and hey -- subscribe while you're at it!!

A tribute

2005-09-10T19:13:00.000-05:00

Have been meaning for days to sit down and write something meaningful about New Orleans cooking, but look, it's been done for me. I have been to New Orleans but twice in my life, and the first time was a veritable eat-fest over Christmas my freshman year in college. The whole family went, and we ate at every single major NO restaurant, my parents being long-time New Orleans habitues. I think my cholesterol levels are still up from that one visit to Commander's Palace, but it's a fine meal that you remember nearly 16 years later.

A completely unsatisfying kitchen chore

2005-09-03T23:03:00.000-05:00

=cooking for kids. Well I will add one caveat to that: I always get big appreciation on dessert.

But otherwise, there's little point. My daughter's two favorite meals? Peanut butter and honey sandwich, and Kraft made-from-orange powder mac & cheese. While I've been assured several times that I "make the best peanut butter sandwiches in the world," a. I'm sure her dad and stepmom hear the same thing and b. it requires so little culinary effort as to be completely unrewarding.

From the time she was born, I vowed that she would be a "good eater." That I would expose her to all sorts of foods. That she would be the one child who ate her vegetables.

And really, I can't complain -- I know a lot of 6yos who are MUCH pickier. She'll try new things and even occasionally like them. She eats lots of foods and while she'd prefer cookies and ice cream for every meal, she is a healthy eater, even with little prodding.

But nonetheless, you cannot look to a 6yo to appreciate the hour you spent making dinner. You'd damn well better like it yourself, because from them, you're much more likely to get a "But I wanted chicken NUGGETS" than a "delicious meatloaf!" Or whatever.

Tortilla soup

2005-08-26T22:08:00.000-05:00

About 10 years ago, my old boss and I used to walk across the street to this little deli located in the garage of an office building there. The whole setup was really very odd. I wonder how she ever even knew about the place but I never asked her that. Anyway, the lady who ran the deli made some of the most delicious lunch food -- and cheap! -- I've ever had. She would deliver occasionally, but it was easiest to go to her. She was a little quirky.

One of the best things she had was tortilla soup. We asked her one day how she made it and I couldn't believe how simple it was. Ever since, I have used this recipe. It is very flexible. It's one that you can't screw up. I proved it again tonight; got started making it and discovered I had no chicken broth. I REALLY did not feel like thawing the chicken I had just to make broth; that is overkill for this little soup.

But I found the last of the turkey broth from last year in the freezer and that worked out great. Very flavorful.

Tortilla Soup
With credits to the luncheon lady from 10 years ago

* Brown a chopped onion in a dutch oven in a bit of olive or canola oil
* Add some pressed garlic to your taste -- I did about 4 cloves tonight, but they were very fresh and so not too strong
* Add between 1 pt. and 1 quart chicken broth -- Start with a pint and add more later once you see how the other ingredients do
* 1 can diced tomatoes
* 1 small can green chiles [I drain this]
* 1 cup or so corn
* 1 t. cumin
* Salt and pepper to taste
* Chopped cooked chicken, if you like

I add the chicken sometimes and not others. Depends on what I feel like.

I usually end up using around a quart of chicken broth but you could go a little more, little less.

Cook over medium [not boiling] for about 20 minutes, until all is hot.

Serve with tortilla chips and colby jack cheese.

Things that interfere with writing a kitchen blog

2005-08-26T21:34:00.000-05:00

5. Working a lot
4. Having your house torn up
3. Having your air conditioner out [which leads to your 30-year-old freezer being unhappy]
2. General late-summer malaise
1. Having your sink clogged

Fortunately, 3 and 1 are remedied. They were the scariest.

I understand these people

2005-08-11T15:50:00.000-05:00

I'm working from home this afternoon waiting on one of the parade of repairmen who've been wandering through my new home for the past six weeks. So I'm listening to NPR while I work. And I heard this AWESOME story on the Manhattan grillers. (Audio available here tonight.)

If you are unaware, it's illegal to grill in Manhattan. To grill outside that is. But everyone seems to do so. And this piece on NPR talks to folks who stake out the best spots in Morningside Park every weekend to bring their contraband grills to have their feasts. One guy even keeps an oil drum grill in storage and hauls it out every weekend.

I have really been missing my grill since I moved. I still have it -- I just can't use it yet. My new house, great though it is, doesn't have gas service. When the stove, water heater or HVAC dies, Nashville Gas will run me a gas line for free and then I'll be back in business. If I paid to run the line....well you don't want to know.

I certainly don't want to WAIT for my water heater to die, based on the horror stories I've heard from coworkers in recent years with flooded homes. So I've put that on the list to replace myself as soon as I have a little extra cash. [For the record, has anyone in the history of the world ever actually had "a little extra cash"?]

Until then, no grilling here either.

High-maintenance cook

2005-07-30T07:02:00.000-05:00

I'll admit upfront that I'm a modern girl. I like my technology, and that includes the basic stuff like oh say a dishwasher.

When I bought my new house, I could tell in a glance that though it was well-kept and solidly built, every single one of the appliances was teetering on the edge of failure, if only from sheer age. So I had the seller pony up for a homeowner's warranty.

I've been wandering around very smugly for the last two weeks since my dishwasher died, a very natural death in my mind. This sucker is o-l-d. My parents build a house in 1978 and I promise you this model looks older than the original from that house. Heck, all my appliances look older than the ones they put in that house. Most of which they replaced at least once before moving to Florida a few years ago.

It's not the simplest thing in the world to get a new dishwasher thru this warranty, but after paying the deductible, I'm getting $220 off my new one, and it looks like a roof repair may only cost me $100, so I'm not complaining.

But I'm here to say that I'm really, really glad that I have a dishwasher most of the time. It certainly makes it a lot easier to go nuts in the kitchen when you can throw it all in the dishwasher. Or to [as I did this past Monday] have 15 people over for dinner.

While there's a certain zen quality to dishwashing, I just don't have time for it day in and day out, especially because I'm not an economical cook, dishes-wise. I'll be glad when H.H. Gregg gets here.

Some observations on summer

2005-07-24T19:26:00.000-05:00

* I could eat summer food all year long, easy.
* My doctor would roll over and die if I didn't beat him to it.

It doesn't make a lot of sense, does it? In the summer we have all these fresh vegetables. You'd think we would be so much healthier in the summer. And I'll be they are, up North. Where they sit inside all winter, just getting pasty-faced and lumpy, bodies slowly draining of every last vitamin and mineral. It's amazing that some folks aren't found each spring, just sort of the human equivalent of hibernating, due to lack of nutrition and stimulation.

But in the South, we're rarely sun-starved all winter [talk to me again in February when I'm deep in my own personal pity party based on not having seen the sun in 3.2 days], and we have fresh, local food a good eight or nine months of the year. So you can pace yourself. There's more where that came from, whatever "that" is.

Nonetheless, I hit this point sometime in late July or early August every year. And it is this:
I'm completely overdoing it on the whole summer bounty thing. I'm eating tomatoes twice a day. Or more. I'm frying squash two or three times a week. Tonight, I knew I was at the edge because I made onion rings.

Now if you've never made homemade onion rings, I highly recommend them. Mmmm. But I really can't think about them too much right now, because even though I'm only 33, I think just a little more thought about those onion rings could cause a cardiac event.

I realize that I eat much better, in general than folks used to. I don't fry everything I eat. But sometimes, midsummer, it really starts to feel that way. I drift back toward my genetic culinary heritage, and it's not a pretty one, artery-wise. But man, is it delicious.

Homemade Onion Rings
* Vidalia onions [Please do not waste your time if you can't get real Vidalias. There's not just a difference. They aren't even the same vegetable as other onions.]
* Egg
* All-purpose flour
* Salt
* Pepper
* Milk

Put the egg in a medium bowl. Add maybe 1/3-1/2 c. flour. Pour in maybe 1/3-1/2 c. milk. Add about 1/4-1/2 t. salt and at least 1/4 t. pepper. Whisk. You may want a little more milk, but don't let this get runny. It works better if it's on the thick side, like cream soup that's sat in the fridge overnight.

Peel the onion and slice it into about 1/3 inch thick slices. Separate them, but leave a 1-inch or so disk in the middle. Those are tasty.

Heat canola oil in a cast-iron skillet over medium heat until a drop of water pops. Dunk the onion rings well in the batter, then fry. If they're browning fast, turn down the heat. The onions won't get soft if they cook too fast. Flip them once or twice, watching to keep them even on both sides. It will take several batches to get them all. Drain on a plate with paper towels.

That much batter will do 1-2 onions.

Best meal of the year, every year

2005-07-08T20:40:00.000-05:00

First tomato sandwich of the summer:

Light wheat bread, toasted
Little bit of mayo on each slice
Peeled, sliced, salted tomato

I eat a whole tomato [cut into slices] on a sandwich unless it's just a monster. I like to have a couple layers of tomatoes in the sandwich. There is nothing better than the first one. But I will keep eating them now several times a week until the tomatoes run out in October. Mmmm.

What a great find

2005-07-04T07:13:00.000-05:00

What an absolutely delinquent blogger I've been over the last month. I apologize [but I am grateful] if you're still out there. Moving is so emotionally draining. I can tell you that all the time I used to spend blogging (and cooking, for that matter), I've instead been spending on the phone with various utilities, or pulling staples out of my newly revealed hardwood floors, or unpacking something else I should have just thrown away. I'm thankfully approaching the end of all those tasks -- so perhaps I'll be getting back to real life.

I have been cooking a bit more in recent days. And I've stumbled across the most incredible fresh-food find. If you live in Nashville, you just must know about it, and if you don't, you need to seek out something like this near you -- Google "Community Supported Agriculture" and your city.

The Bugtussle Farm is a family farm in Kentucky. A young couple owns 120 acres, but they're currently cultivating two of them. From their work, you can receive incredible bounty through a 20-week growing season between May and September. You purchase a "share" in the winter or early spring [too late for this year obviously] and then you get in-season fresh veggies each Saturday all summer. However, they may offer a fall share September-November. I've put myself on their waiting list; you should too!!

I learned about the Bugtussle folks via a friend who was going to be out of town the next several weeks -- she asked me to pick up and eat her share. I jumped at the chance. With the chaos of moving this summer, I haven't even made it to the Farmer's Market yet. I wasn't disappointed with my first basket. I got:

fresh green beans
a delicious cucumber
first homegrown tomato I've had this year [that and the cuke are gone already]
one of the sweetest fresh heads of garlic I've ever eaten [roasted last night and used in potato soup]
fresh herbs
a head of cabbage
fresh lettuce
several carrots straight out of the ground

My friend has the one-person-sized share, so that was it. Mmmmm. Am getting hungry now so I've got to go. Next Saturday when I do my pickup, I'll remember to take a photo of my bounty. I will be sad with Tina is back in three weeks.

First meal at the new house

2005-06-23T21:28:00.000-05:00

Let me say first off that I could have written this days ago if "Unnamed Local Cable Company" could have straightened out my Internet access. Between the guy who moved out of here not canceling his account, several non-specific system problems on the ULCC's end and some employee errors [at least, they all blamed whoever I'd talked to last, every time I called], it's taken a week.

I will say, if you live in Nashville and ever have a problem with ULCC, I hope you get to talk to Patsy. She is a blessed saint and deserves twice what she's being paid, whatever that might be.

Now, back to business.

At the old house, I had really been enjoying my gas grill. It's one that hooks into the gas line. This is something I legitimately inherited from my dad, and it cooks like a dream. However, new house has no gas appliances. To run a gas line just for the grill -- well let's just say it's not in your price range or mine. So I have to wait for the death of a major appliance before I can hook it up.

So for the first time in more than a year, I cooked hamburgers inside over the weekend. I think there are few foods in this world better than a homemade hamburger. Here's how I make mine:
Ground chuck
An egg
Healthy dose of Worchestershire
Teaspoon or so of garlic powder
Salt & pepper

Sometimes I'll get creative and throw something else in, but usually that's about it. And I'm pretty boring on the cheese end too: American will do it for me.

I've had your fancy gourmet burgers, but darn it, a cheeseburger is supposed to taste like a picnic table in the backyard with potato salad and brownies for dessert. It should not taste like wine, fancy china and getting dressed up.

Sniff.

No one cooks when they're moving

2005-06-12T18:49:00.000-05:00

I'm sorry for the lack of posts...both in the past few days but especially the whole next week. I'm moving next Saturday and I predict my next week will consist largely of takeout. I have left the kitchen as one of the last rooms to pack, but it's time. I have planned what to eat on moving day, however. In a surprise to exactly no one, we'll be picking up BBQ from Dee's, right in between my new house and old.

Back with you shortly....

The cake

2005-06-08T22:15:00.000-05:00

The super birthday extravaganza was wonderful, thank you. We got through the weekend with only one and a half carsickness incidents, and they weren't even in my car. (My poor parents...they may never visit again.) On the other hand, perhaps they're safe as long as it's not a birthday, when we tend to feed ice cream for breakfast around here.

On to other culinary events: We missed the much-anticipated Shoney's dinner [birthday girl gets to choose] due to aforementioned incident, but had a cookout at home. There's really nothing better than a homemade, grilled cheeseburger. Not even Shoney's. Trust me on this one.

I had been really stressed earlier over getting the mix of snacks for the birthday party just right. In the end, the new 6yo decided that she'd like not just a cake with Strawberry Shortcake on it, but a cake shaped like Strawberry Shortcake. Oh, and strawberry cake inside. At this point, the cake reverted to me, given my previous history with Wilton cakes. I even already had a Strawberry Shortcake pan that my mother had used when my youngest sister was about this age.

We were both pleased with how it turned out. In fact, 6yo took one look at the finished product and said, "Mom, you have to put this cake on your website."

Really. The first thing she said. It creeped me out too.

We eat a lot of ice cream around here

2005-06-03T08:04:00.000-05:00

I'll admit that right off the bat. I'm not going to go back and count the number of posts since I started that have centered around, or have featured, ice cream. However, I promise you that we've eaten even more than I've blogged about.

Last night I realized I had a whole bunch of apples sitting around. This happens to me a lot, because I buy apples, thinking we'll eat them, you know -- fruit, healthy, etc. -- and then they sit on the counter until they rot. At that point I go buy more apples so I can repeat the cycle. But yesterday was the golden moment in the apple life span of my kitchen; I'd bought apples twice, and most of them were still good. It was time to make homemade applesauce.

If you've never done it before, the first thing you should know is that this is one of the easiest things in the world to make. You practically can't screw it up. [This is a small recipe. If you're feeding more than four or want leftovers or canning quantities, this is not for you. Or, you will want to make this once, then start multiplying and experimenting.]

Use a large saucepan, about 3-4 quarts.
Peel and chop 3-5 apples [golden delicious are best, but almost any kind EXCEPT red delicious will work]. The smaller you chop the apples the faster they'll cook. And the longer it will take you to chop them.
Add about 1/3 cup water.
Turn heat to medium. Cover pan.
Add 2 T. butter.
Add 1/3 c. brown sugar.
Add to taste, but to begin with: 1/4 t. cinnamon
and 1/2 t. allspice
If you don't have kids, please also add:
1/3 c. really good raisins
1/3 c. nuts [wait til closer to the end of cooking]

Let that just cook for a good long while, still covered. Stir it every now and then. If it starts to soak up all the water, add a little more. You don't want dry or stuck applesauce. Also at that point, turn down the heat.

Now if you're patient, or not hungry, you can let it cook til the apples completely fall apart on their own. I am rarely patient, and I'm usually cooking when I'm hungry, so whenever they get to the point when they are ready to fall apart, I take my pastry blender and I smash 'em up. It's a different texture but still good.

Mmmmm.

And the ice cream? Well you can see above that when I got done cooking, for some reason I was struck with a desire to eat my applesauce on ice cream. It was delicious.

Here's a good sandwich:

2005-06-02T08:49:00.000-05:00

Wheat bread
Spring greens
Three REALLY thin slices of roasted turkey [PLEASE don't get me started on sandwiches with the meat stacked an inch high. Why don't you just go gnaw on the animal itself?]
Peach amaretto pecan jam [Hey! I'm using some of that jam!] I think you could use any jam here that makes you think of chutney.
Grated smoked cheddar

Butter the bread [well, better do that before you stack it up] and grill like a grilled cheese. Delicious. I'm sorry I didn't take a picture -- it was pretty -- but frankly I was starving. Maybe I'll make another soon.

Lots of interest in BBQ

2005-05-27T07:09:00.000-05:00

I know I said the last time I wrote on this topic that I wouldn't be doing so again. In fact, I called it "The Last Post on Barbecue." But I've been reading David Plotz's barbecue pilgrimmage diary all week in Slate and so I can't just leave it out there without saying something.

A. The guy disses on Memphis big-time. I'm not sure why he expected to find real West Tennessee barbecue at two of the most touristy restaurants in the city. Sigh. Go with a native next time, will ya?

B. The best part of the whole series is the exchange between the author and some security agents at the Austin airport at the end of his trip. They've caught Plotz with a jar of Kansas City BBQ sauce in his bag and let him have it:

At the Austin airport, I was singled out for a special security screening. The TSA agent fingering through my bag pulled out a jar of barbecue sauce I had bought at Gates in Kansas City. "What's this?" she asked.

"It's barbecue sauce," I said.

"I know it's barbecue sauce. I mean, what kind of sauce is it? I've never seen this kind before."

"It's from Kansas City."

She grimaced at this. Holding the jar like it contained C-4 explosive, she showed it to another screener. "Look, this guy has some kind of barbecue sauce from New York City or something," she told the other screener derisively.

"Kansas City," I weakly interrupted.

She waved me off, then said in an ominous voice. "Now, why would you have that?"

"I was on a barbecue tour," I answered. "I started in Kansas City, and finished here."

"Did you go to Rudy's?" she asked.

I shook my head.

"You came to Texas for barbecue, and you didn't go to Rudy's?" She turned to her partner. "He came to Texas, and he didn't go to Rudy's!" The partner shook his head.

"What about the Salt Lick?" she asked. I shook my head no again. She made a face.

The partner continued the interrogation. "How about the County Line?"

I shook my head.

"Well, where did you go?" the screener asked in an exasperated voice.

Heh. We all have our own ideas on this one, don't we? You're really only happy with your own barbecue. I still don't know how to explain South Carolina mustard sauce, but hey, it's not my barbecue.

A rut or a good habit?

2005-05-24T22:20:00.000-05:00

Each year, my daughter's father and stepmother and I split the planning and cooking duties for her birthday party. She's coming up on the big 6-year festivities soon, and this year my job is everything-but-the-cake. Since she's plenty old enough to have her own opinions about this sort of thing, Cheetos top the everything-but list. However, the rest of it is up to me.

I started making the menu tonight and was alarmed to discover that everything I first thought of could be described as my appetizer cheat sheet:
Cheese Krispies [basically, cheese, butter, flour, Rice Krispies. Mmmm.]
Fresh veggies and sour cream dip
Chex Mix
Bean dip and chips

Now, there's certainly nothing WRONG with any of these. They're all good for a party or a late-night junk-food fest. But is it bad that I could make them all in my sleep? I feel like I really need to branch out. More thought to come on this topic, but I can guarantee you that no matter what, the Cheese Krispies will stay on the list.

Excellent tip

2005-05-23T13:40:00.000-05:00

For those of you who spend about 2/3 of the year deciding what to plant, planting it, working on the plants, and harvesting what you've planted -- please don't miss this critical gardening advice.

The answer is 73

2005-05-19T21:38:00.000-05:00

For years, friends, family and near-strangers have harassed me because I own a lot of cookbooks. I'll own up to having quite a fetish for them. It's VERY hard for me to resist a new one...or a great vintage edition.

Since I'm moving, I've apparently gotten into counting my possessions, and cookbooks were bound to be on the list. I guess it's the only thing you could say I "collect." There are a very few that I could do without. For instance, the one that came with my mother's Crockpot 30 years ago. (No, I didn't steal her Crockpot. Just the related cookbook. I have no idea why.) But most of the rest, I use several times a year. And some I use almost weekly.

Here's how I cook. This partly explains why I need so many:
I decide what to make. Then I start looking up as many recipes of the dish as I can find. I compare all the recipes and either take the one I like the best, or (more likely) mix up the parts of all of them that I like to come up with my own version.

My mother and at least one of my sisters are mystified by this method. They are by-the-book folks when it comes to cooking. I don't really know where I picked up this alternate method, since my mom taught me to cook. But I do remember VERY distinctly the first time I realized it was possible to cook without a recipe. Or even measuring.

I don't remember how old I was, or even WHY this happened. Maybe my mother can enlighten us about those details. But for some reason, a lady who ran a local restaurant came to my house (when I was a teenager, I think), to teach me her biscuit recipe. This many years later, I don't remember it, but I do remember that THERE WAS NO RECIPE. She took some flour, some shortening and some milk and mixed them up in the proper fashion until it looked good to her. Maybe it was self-rising flour, or maybe she threw in the baking powder and salt. Like I say, that part is gone. But I was completely mystified that she didn't need measuring cups, teaspoons, nothing. She cooked til it looked good. Then she baked them and they were the same delicious biscuits you could get at her restaurant.

It didn't immediately change my method, but over time, as I thought about that day, and cooked more and more on my own, I'd find myself thinking, hmmm, this would be better with sausage. Or, I want a third of this size. How much of what do I cut? From those questions, it's a small jump to: I have these three things in the fridge. What can I make from them?

So the 73 books are helpful for a starting point. My newest is a Chinese cookbook. It's a cuisine I've not spent a lot of time cooking, but I made a goal for myself early on to really work on Chinese this year. So far, I've been distracted with other stuff, but the second six months look promising.

First of the season

2005-05-14T20:23:00.000-05:00

Eating strawberries always makes me think of my grandmother Creek. (Inventive with names, aren't we? The worst part is that my two sisters and I are ALL now called "Creek" by various long-time friends, and inevitably we end up in the same place at the same time, never knowing who's supposed to be answering to the name.)

Back to the main point. My grandmother had a strawberry patch for several years when I was little, in her big backyard. She worked and worked for those precious berries, laying down plastic and hay to protect the plants, and watering them carefully. Oddly I don't remember eating her strawberries, though I'm sure I did. What I do remember is that it takes work to make a strawberry, and they should be sufficiently appreciated.

While you can get strawberries year-round now, if you've not tasted a homegrown strawberry in May, you're missing one of the best foods of the year. I went to the store today for baking powder and honey and $85 later, I came home with sacks full of groceries, but the find of the day was a quart of fresh strawberries from Delvin Farms just outside Nashville.

The minute I got in the car from the store, I decided to make a cream cheese pastry to eat them with. I cut some berries up and sugared them, and saved some whole -- hopefully they'll last til Monday or Tuesday. Then I waited for my mom to call me back with the pastry recipe -- another childhood memory. And waited. And waited.

I probably waited a good 15 minutes all told. I think that was pretty dang patient with fresh strawberries on the way. Then I gave up and looked up a similar recipe on the Internet. My mom called me back while I was eating the strawberries and pastry.

I did learn a crucial difference in the two -- and I'm convinced this recipe here (originally from my other grandmother, Dee Dee) is better than the one I made tonight.

Dee Dee's Cream Cheese Pastry
1 cup flour
1 stick butter
3 oz. cream cheese
Blend with pastry blender. Knead just a little and then either roll and cut, or do what I did and just flatten the dough into 6" rounds by hand. Bake at 350 degrees just until it starts to brown.

Now the recipe I found had 4 oz. cream cheese, and I think it was a tad too much. So I'm going to try Dee Dee's next time. The found recipe also had a little sugar and salt, and I think those were good additions. I'll probably keep those.

What she said

2005-05-10T23:08:00.000-05:00

BusyMom has a delightful post today on tea punch and chicken salad. Mmmm. I haven't made either in a long time but once you get this into your head....more in a few days if I have time to make them.

It was hard to stop at one bowl

2005-05-09T21:28:00.000-05:00

When I was a kid, I always hated all the soups my mother liked. I don't know why; I guess it was one of those Freudian things. Wasn't he the one that talked about the need to separate from your parents? Well it doesn't really matter. I'm just rotten at making any sort of erudite reference like that. I got a great education but there's no connection between that and being able to pull up names, theories and quotes, apparently. That's what I'm still telling myself; please don't disabuse me of the notion. It's all I have.

So I didn't get around to eating cream of mushroom soup til I was grown. Really I don't know what inspired me to ever try it, except that I love mushrooms so much. But now, it's one of my favorite soups, hands-down.

There's a great recipe in an old Southern Living for doctoring canned cream of mushroom to make it taste homemade. Their online index is behind a cost wall for subscribers, etc., but if you have access, it's called Sherried Mushroom Soup. I have made this recipe for several years but tonight I decided I'd just make up my own.

It really turned out well. Here's what I did:
Cream of Mushroom Soup
Melt 2 T. butter over medium heat in a large saucepan. Add 2 small onions, chopped and saute them til they start to brown. Add 4 cloves garlic, salt and pepper to taste, and 1/2 t. thyme.

When onions begin browning, add 16 oz. chicken broth. [As always, homemade is best. More on this another time. But I too use storebought often.]

Chop and add 8 oz. mushrooms. Simmer for a few minutes, maybe 10. Then add 1/2 to 1 cup milk and 1/2 cup sour cream. --UPDATE: I forgot to say here, add 1 to 1 1/2 c. cooked rice.-- Turn heat to low.

This is a good time to add a splash of white wine if you like. Simmer over low heat [don't let it boil after you've added the dairy items, just a little bubble here and there] for 10-20 minutes, until soup thickens as you like. Taste a little bit and adjust seasonings as necessary.

DOH! Don't try this at home.

2005-05-07T23:05:00.000-05:00

Tonight I learned why you should only make homemade ice cream at family reunions, in large crowds. Because with any task like this that you only undertake once a year or so, you're really likely to forget a critical step without six or 10 people back-seat driving.

Like taking out the dasher before you pack in the ice cream to freeze. Oops.

I've been planning to make peppermint stick ice cream for weeks now. It's one of my long-time favorites. My recipe comes out of the Good Housekeeping cookbook, but this one on allrecipes.com is very similar.

Today was finally the day. I spent quite some time digging the ice cream freezer out of the back of the garage and getting it cleaned up and set up. Then when everything was ready, I plugged it in. There's nothing worse than the sound of a dying ice cream freezer.

Except for the smoke that soon follows.

I can't complain; I bet this freezer is 25 or 30 years old. I swiped it from my parents. It was either theirs or my grandmother's. Nonetheless, despite my tinkering, it was quickly apparent that it's now time for me to plunk down the change for my own. Unless I have an unknown benefactor out there....I've added the freezer to my Amazon wish list just in case.

Anyhow, it was cold enough and we packed the ice in and went to dinner. Came back and discovered the true fatal flaw...the dasher. Fixed it fairly quickly of course. It was standing between us and homemade ice cream.

Strange hoarding

2005-05-04T22:20:00.000-05:00

So my realtor had pointed out to me several weeks ago that I had an awful lot of food. In not so many words, that perhaps I had taken Tom Ridge a mite too seriously at all his security warnings. Despite having grown up in a house where we shopped every day for that night's dinner [my family ran a grocery store], a habit I'm slowly breaking, I still like to have lots and lots of ingredients on hand.

Since I'm moving soon [hence the realtor], I decided it might be a good idea to clean out the pantry and not pay to move all those canned goods anyway. Tonight on the way home, I decided this would be a good night to cook from what's on hand. I got in and started poking around and discovered the answer to both mysteries:
* Why I have so many cans and
* Why I have to shop every night

See for yourself. I knew I had several cans of artichoke hearts because I'd been running into them a lot lately while looking for something more useful, say, corn or green beans. [Out of both.] But look at these!! Trust me....no recipe in this world calls for five cans of artichoke hearts.

I made artichoke dip, the standard recipe you find in every Southern cookbook. Cup of mayo, cup of parmesan cheese, couple cans artichoke hearts. Seasonings here and there. Didn't like it. I'd never made this dip at home before but now I feel like I have to work on it to find a good one.

The other thing I discovered on my artichoke quest was that I actually have a serious jam hoarding issue. Oddly [OK this whole post is odd], I don't even like jam. Well, that's not strictly true. I do like it. I just don't eat it. I like every jam pictured here. It's just that when it comes down to the critical decision on Saturday morning: jam or butter on the hot, homemade biscuit? -- and I do ask myself every week -- I always opt for butter. I just love it so much.

Reminds me, need to get some regular, salted butter before Saturday. I only have unsalted at the moment. Don't want to get stuck eating jam on my biscuits.

Important note for Nashvillians

2005-05-03T23:13:00.000-05:00

Bobbie's Dairy Dip is open for the season. Supper out, anyone?

Eating at a nice Italian place for once

2005-04-30T14:17:00.000-05:00

Nashville has plenty of nice restaurants but we just don't have great Italian on every corner. So on Thursday in New York, my sister asked if I wanted to eat Italian and I didn't wait for her to offer a second option. We walked to 'Cesca on the Upper West Side, not too many blocks from her apartment. The atmostphere is lovely. It has beautiful wood paneling, deep cushy seats, a nice wait staff and good wine.

I took pics of our dinner but I forgot to bring my camera. I am not pleased with the way my Treo 650 takes pictures in a dark restaurant. Ha!! What kind of complaint is that? I guess if that's the worst thing I can find to say about it, I'd best shut up.

We had some roasted mushrooms for appetizers. I think our love of mushrooms comes from early and repeated exposure as children. They've got to be one of our mother's top five favorite foods. At any rate, these came in a crockery dish with a cream sauce. Delicious!

For dinner I selected a roasted chicken with ricotta gnocchi. The gnocchi were more cheese than pasta -- just a sort of complement to the chicken, vegetables and sauce. It's not the kind of dish I usually order but I did like it. I waited so long to post this that I forgot what Allie had. Hopefully she'll post it.

Overall, I liked this restaurant but I won't say it was my favorite New York restaurant ever. And I guess that would be a hard honor to win, even though I haven't been to New York that many times in my life. But I can definitely recommend it if you're looking for Italian on the Upper West Side.

Diner economics

2005-04-28T22:13:00.000-05:00

This afternoon I got out of the first-day session of the Gel conference [this is a GREAT, GREAT conference. If you have anything to do with customer experience, I can already recommend it after one afternoon session with Creative Good CEO Phil Terry. Day Two starts tomorrow; more after that.] and I was hungry. I'd grabbed both breakfast and lunch on the go. I made plans to go to dinner with others from my afternoon session but I couldn't wait til 7:30 p.m. to eat. I was Hungry Right Now.

So I walked back to my sister's apartment and stopped at the nearby diner. I've visited my sister many times and always seen this restaurant but never gone in before. Today I figured I could find a good snack there before dinner.

I felt in many ways I'd stepped back into my childhood. It's the kind of diner you can find all over New York, but it's no longer fasionable out in the flyover states. You can get anything there -- I mean anything. Greek food, steak, hamburgers, breakfast all day, sandwiches, fried appetizers, salads, and on and on. I ordered a grilled cheese and fries. Both were good. Don't laugh; I've had bad versions of both. And the service was excellent.

But what really started to bother me were the economics of the place. The folks working there were all middle-aged adults. My ticket came to $8.25. Maybe a little on the low side but probably not by much. I left what was I suspect a generous tip. The wait staff looked like the kind of folks who had families to support -- and probably parents too. In Nashville, I think it wouldn't be easy. But in Manhattan, how is that even remotely possible? My sister quickly says, You live in an outer borough and you have another job. Well OK. It still seemed harder than it had to be to me. No answers here, just a lot of questions.

Homeroom mom

2005-04-25T21:45:00.000-05:00

My daughter's elementary school is really great and we've really been enjoying her kindergarten year. It's really true, when your kid is in school, there are many opportunities for you to contribute your cooking skills. Last week there was a breakfast meeting held at our school and they asked parents to help with the food.

For some reason I immediately thought of sausage pinwheels. I haven't made these in years. The meeting was on a Monday, so I had plenty of time Sunday night to make the pinwheels. They're really easy. You just make regular biscuit dough and roll it out into a long rectangle. Then you spread sausage out over the dough [I think it's easiest with your fingers] until it's really thin. Then roll the dough into a long skinny log. Slice into pinwheels. I made mine maybe 3/8" thick. You bake them just like biscuits til the dough is golden brown and the sausage is cooked.

I was glad I had made a double recipe. Frankly, you can't make something like this without testing one. Or eight.

My favorite easy supper

2005-04-25T21:27:00.000-05:00

I find myself at least a couple nights a week scrambling for dinner ideas at the last minute. I get home late and open the fridge, seeing which foodstuffs seem most like ingredients right at that moment. Sometimes the answer is "none." But some nights, I have just the right mix of items, and the result is risotto.

I first learned to make risotto out of Cooking Light maybe 10 years ago, maybe 12. For a long time, I thought it was one of those dishes that you had to make right according to instructions. I don't know if that first recipe I had was particularly hard. But after a long time, I finally started messing with it. Then I realized risotto is actually an infinitely flexible recipe. Start with the arborio, butter and seasonings, and then think of what you like to eat. Add it. A little broth and wine, it's done. Mmm.

Last week I had some onions, mushrooms and peppers. Easy and I'm eating my veggies, Mom!

Current food addiction

2005-04-07T11:19:00.000-05:00

So I'm always excited on Tuesday. It's my Plumgood Food delivery day. But the best part is that I get a loaf of French crusty bread and then decide what I'd like to do with it.

What I often do is make a little appetizer with these yummy seasonings that my mom got for me a while back. You pour some good olive oil on a plate, add the spices, and yum.

There are four flavors:

Rosemary garlic
Sicilian blend [I don't know what is in this one and frankly haven't eaten it]
Tomato basil
Parmesan garlic

The parmesan and rosemary are my favorites. Last week I had a coworker over for dinner and we had this wonderful appetizer since it was in fact, Tuesday. The best part for me was that I felt much less guilty about finishing off the whole loaf of bread with a helper.

The downside?? I can't find these great seasonings on the Internet. I REALLY need a new jar. Can you help? Alexander's Bread Dip Seasonings.

Grocery shopping

2005-04-01T12:57:00.000-06:00

Yay for sitting at the computer on a Saturday. This DRASTICALLY increases the odds that I'll turn in my Plumgood Food order and get to eat next week. For the uninitiated, this grocery-delivery revolution that hit Nashville a few months ago has changed my life. You visit the Plumgood Food website, you order the food, and it shows up at your door a couple days later. Or your office, wherever you say.

As you might suspect, it's not perfect. Here are the downsides to Plumgood:

It is more expensive than going to Kroger. I dispensed with this problem quickly, since I hate Kroger so much that I quit going there a long time ago, even if it is cheap. More on that below.
Since PGF is organically oriented, you won't find things like, say, Heinz ketchup. Or Hellman's mayo. Or Velveeta. For the most part, this means you eat better. However, as we all know, sometimes you're hit by a mad craving for cheese, and nothing but the real thing will do.
And the real problem: you have to freakin' remember to turn in your order on time, or you get no grub.

Now, there is this very nice feature on PGF called "add to my standing order." Perhaps if I had more than 1.5 people living in my house, I'd have more stuff I'd need to order every week -- and thus a larger standing order. As it is, my standing order is small, and I add different stuff to it each time to round out a full order. [PGF delivers when you hit $30, and you can pick up at their Cannery Row warehouse when you reach $20.] Instead, I often find myself doing the slap-the-forehead routine on Sunday a.m., realizing I missed the Saturday midnight cutoff AGAIN, and will have to [horrors] schlep out to the store.

Why is grocery shopping so abhorrent to me?

Despite having many great grocery options [Publix, Harris Teeter, even a Fresh Market], there's just one great one near me: The Turnip Truck. It is a locally owned natural foods market. It is wonderful and I shop there as much as possible. However, it also suffers from the Heniz ketchup/Hellman's issue, and has a smaller selection than PGF overall.
I am a single mom, work fulltime, and volunteer with every waking hour I'm not engaged in the first two activities. I'll hand you my calendar and you find time for shopping.
And perhaps the real reason, I got ruined for life growing up. My dad owned a grocery store. He took over from my grandparents. It was a great store, and so I know how a grocery store should be run. I also spent all my childhood vacations touring grocery stores across the nation, wherever we happened to be that summer, so I've seen what's out there. I know that what we have in my neighborhood, aside from TTT, ain't it.

All right. Enough on that for now. Got to go order the food so I'l have something to eat and write about next week.

Nothing says spring like a chili dog

2005-03-30T13:12:00.000-06:00

I had lunch yesterday with a friend I hadn't seen in nearly two years. We used to work together at a little Internet venture here in town [and then later at Hammock before she hopped over to grad school at Owen]. When we were in the midst of the dot com craze, we ate all the time over at the Mojo Grill. I haven't been there in forever, but that's where we met yesterday.

Yesterday was one of the first really great days for sitting on the patio for lunch here in Nashville. [Today's the second, but you're reading my lunch "minutes" right now...] So of course I ordered the Texas Chili Dog. [I apologize, accidentally left the camera at home. Better food reporting next time.] Surprisingly, the chili dog is a rapidly disappearing culinary treat in this town. I really don't get it. We make the top 10 of all sorts of obesity and unhealthful surveys, and this seems like a key item in such rankings to me. If we're going to keep up our stats, we need more chili dogs in Nashville.

The best chili dog in town USED to be at McCabe Pub on Murphy Road. I honestly believe it's been a full five years since they've had it on the menu, but that doesn't stop me from ordering it every few times I go in there. I used to do so every time, until there were a couple folks who threatened to stop eating with me. I was hoping to inspire a groundswell of support for it, you know?

Well here's to spring, and to more chili dogs in the future.

It sure feels like cooking

2005-03-27T21:41:00.000-06:00

We dyed the obligatory Easter eggs last Friday. Actually, I don't think we have in the past couple of years. As long as I can remember, I have blown out the insides of the raw eggs instead of hard-boiling them. That way, you can keep them. Consequently, we had more than two dozen eggs already on hand to start our holiday decorating.

However, when you're 5, this is one of those can't-miss activities, so we blew [no kidding] two dozen more eggs on Friday. We dyed one dozen with some friends at the previously mentioned daisy-cake party, then did another dozen on our own later. Thankfully, five-year-olds think it's a lot of fun to blow the insides out of eggs. Because 33-year-old moms think it's intriguing for about 30 seconds.

The cook and the cheapo in me were both thinking, as two dozen eggs went down the drain, there go four pound cakes! I consoled myself by deciding that once we'd breathed close-up-and-personal on the egg innards, it might not be so sanitary to use them. Right. I did preempt some guilt by purchasing the cheapest eggs I could, instead of my usual organic, hand-coddled poultry-laid eggs.

Well, we can't eat them, but the results were lovely.

Bananas and ice cream

2005-03-27T14:35:00.000-06:00

Bananas are one of those foods that I like, really, but I can rarely bring myself to eat. I try to eat plain ones from time to time, and as long as I'm doing something else, I can. But there's just that umm, banana flavor that gets to me after a while.

Today I remembered how I do enjoy bananas: sauteed with butter, brown sugar and a little cinnamon. I usually don't bother with the alcohol and go all the way for Bananas Foster, but if you're ever in New Orleans, just get the real thing there -- it's worth it.

Here's how I made my bananas today:

About 1 1/2 T. butter, melted over medium heat in a cast-iron skillet
Between 1/3 and 1/4 c. brown sugar added as butter begins to melt
1/4 t. cinnamon

As brown sugar begins to bubble, lower heat and slice in one banana. Stir together for just a couple of minutes until bananas are warmed and sugar is completely dissolved.

Pour over vanilla ice cream and eat asap!!

The last post on barbecue

2005-03-26T08:19:00.000-06:00

I don't eat BBQ much around here because I've been disappointed one too many times in the past.

But the end of last summer, this little barbecue hut popped up near the railroad tracks on my way home. I drive by it no matter where I'm going at least twice a day every day. You can't miss it; it's bright yellow with flames painted on it. It's called Dee's Q, Fish and Wings.

Well after weeks of discussion on the topic, we walked down there yesterday evening for dinner. We had barbecue sandwiches and fries. We were quickly quite upset with ourselves for having delayed our first visit for so long. The barbecue is the real thing.

Our sandwiches were great; lots of juicy meat with good sauce. They also do chicken and ribs, which I'm looking forward to trying. Judging from the number of folks who came up to order while we sat on the bench out front, the wings must be great too, though they're not my thing. Had I been alone I would have gotten the fried okra side, so I'll definitely try that next time.

The best part came at the end. I said to the guy working that we really enjoyed it and were sorry we had taken so long to try it etc. I attempted to explain my West Tennessee bias. [I DO realize this sounds ridiculous if you're not from there.] He just looked at me and said, "Well, Dee's from West Tennessee."

There you have it.

Signs of the past

2005-03-25T22:17:00.000-06:00

At least once a year I'm seized by the impulse to make a Wilton cake. You know the ones...those of your childhood birthday parties, with the cartoon-character designs created by the combo of a shaped cake pan and about a million multi-colored stars. So for this year's "spring break" party the 5yo and I went in search of a flower-shaped pan. Sure enough, Wilton makes a flower pan. So we made the cake. I will say this was much easier than the cartoon characters I've made in the past, like a Winnie-the-Pooh with a honey pot.

Enough with the cheese already

2005-03-18T23:22:00.000-06:00

After traveling the beginning of the week, I tried to cram everything I could into three days the end of this week. It only took two before I was wiped out. I came home from a long day on Thursday and found that Rotel I made last week in the fridge. I am sure some people are adding up the dates and starting to get grossed out. Believe me, I'm the food safety queen. I throw things out even if they've just been hanging out in a suspicious corner of the fridge for an extra couple days.

But any Southerner will tell you the well known truism: only two things are known to survive a nuclear blast. One of them's cockroaches. The other's Velveeta.

So I figure that Rotel is A-OK after just a week in the refrigerator. I'm also certain that it is not good FOR me. Someone at work observed this afternoon that when you do something like eat Rotel for dinner, you scarf down a whole bowl in 5 minutes.

I'll spare you the disgusting details, but I threw out the rest of the Rotel today. It will be a long time before I have THAT particular craving again.

The County Line

2005-03-16T21:46:00.000-06:00

My last night in Austin I went out with a friend of mine from college. He has lived there for several years and gave me a great tour of town, all around UT [enormous!], up Mount Bonnell, through West Lake Hills, neat neighborhoods in downtown and to several great views of the river that runs through town.

We wrapped up at the County Line, another barbecue restaurant that is inexplicably not near the county line. Again, an amazing variety of meat called "barbecue." But it was very good. I had the chicken and turkey. I actually think my favorite part of the whole meal was the appetizer: jalepeno jack poppers. Monterey Jack cheese, laced with jalepenos, breaded and fried. A little ranch dressing for dipping....mmmm.

The Salt Lick

2005-03-14T15:32:00.000-06:00

I've written about barbecue before, but you can't come to Texas without the subject coming up. Summer has been telling us how great The Salt Lick is for the longest time, and having put down Texas barbecue my whole life, I was eager to confirm my assertions.

The Salt Lick is near Driftwood, Texas, relatively near Austin. An easy drive for dinner for sure. I don't think it's near much else, but that isn't a negative. I think they had to put it out there to accommodate the hundreds of cars that show up every night. Even when Cole [playing photographer here], Summer, Rex and I arrived last night around 7:30, we waited around an hour or so for a table. This at a restaurant with two enormous banquet halls to seat all the patrons.

S.L. is in a dry county, so it's a bring-your-own place. The hanging-out atmosphere in the waiting area of the gravel parking lot really reminds you of a family reunion or a church picnic. For one, there are a million people there. Everyone's drinking a beer, sitting on picnic tables or standing around talking, and dozens of little kids are running around, throwing rocks and jumping off the stone walls. Good times.

We were lucky because we got to eat on the side with the pit. It just sits right behind the cash register when you walk in the door. I guess there are lots of other barbecue restaurants with indoor pits, but it seems so odd to walk right in and see it there. It sure smells good, though. Yikes on the fire insurance. On the other hand, maybe they don't have any. They're in the middle of nowhere, so probably volunteer fire department. It's a wooden building with a big stone pit in the middle? Hmmm.

The best part of the experience was dinner. Now, I'm not being untrue to my roots in saying this. While Texas "barbecue" is definitely meat cooked in a barbecue style, it's just not barbecue. Barbecue is pulled pork. Period. You can also make barbecued ribs. To me, it's even two different things to "go eat barbecue" and "go eat ribs." But here in Texas, barbecue is all meat.

We ate family style. The spread included cole slaw, potato salad, bread, sausage, brisket, ribs and onions. There was more than one comment along the lines of "the best sausage I've ever eaten." It was all good. But as we also observed, you keep us waiting and hour and a half, we'd eat an old tire.

Las Manitas

2005-03-13T15:19:00.000-06:00

Went for a run this morning up to the State Capitol. It's beautiful. All the natives here are quick to point out that it's the tallest state capitol building in the country. Now you know. When I got back, I wanted something decent for breakfast and a bagel wasn't it. I got ready and went over to SXSW, but there was just a bland-looking snack stand open. I asked the ladies at the information booth where they recommended eating. One looked at me almost out of the corner of her eye and said, "Well if it were me, on a Sunday morning I'd go to Las Manitas down on Congress Avenue."

So I headed out. About four blocks over and two down, I found the best Mexican restaurant I've eaten in in years at Las Manitas. I had a dish called Chilaquiles Rojos after some extended conversation with the waitress over whether she liked the rojos or verdes sauce better. I really like tomatillos a LOT, but I let her talk me into the rojos. It was delicious. Completely homemade, down to the tortillas -- where do you FIND that -- but I do feel like I should go back and have the Chilaquiles Verdes before I leave town to see if she was right. Maybe I should be more trusting.

Update, 3.14.2005: Rex and I went back to Las Manitas for lunch. I had to try this verdes sauce. We had the coolest experience. The waitress waved us on in to what looked like a completely full room -- then took us right through the kitchen to the patio out back. Both going in and leaving, I was amazed at the ballet happening in the kitchen and among the jam-packed tables throughout the restaurant. The staff is scrambling constantly, but they're totally aware of everyone around them. They don't bump into you, even when you walk right through their office in the kitchen. I felt very compelled to make sure I was just as graceful, which I am sometimes not. The people at my office can attest that I've been seen tripping over my own feet.

The chilaquiles verdes was a breakfast item, so we both got chicken enchiladas verdes. A favorite of mine anyway. I did read the menu but was still surprised when the dish arrived without cheese. I quickly decided it's because every Mexican restaurant I've been to before likes to smother everything in cheese. This was great food, no smothering required.

Now, as for whether I would have liked the chilaquiles better with verdes? Hard to say. Might require another trip to town.

Going out of state for supper

2005-03-12T22:38:00.000-06:00

I'm at SXSW for the next few days. Never been here before but it's great to be here in Austin. What a great city. #1, it's March and the high temperature today was around 82. Tell me that's not perfect. My coworker and friend Summer and I did discover that signage related to parking is less than ideal, but otherwise, the trip is great so far. [Summer lives here.]

Well of course one nice part about this trip is getting to eat at all these great restaurants that Summer has been telling me about for years. I didn't eat lunch on purpose and arrived starving today around 2 p.m. We went straight to Katz's Deli. Awesome homemade potato chips and fried pickles. Plus sandwiches. I will say that though I've never tried to make fried pickles myself, I'm going to give folks the benefit of the doubt and say that it must not be easy. Because I've had some bad ones in my life. Greasy, soggy, you name it. But these today -- divine. I could have eaten the whole plate. I managed not to.

Then we went to SXSW and heard a great speaker, Jason Fried of 37signals. This guy, he's a genius. His philosophy dovetails dead-on with what we do at work, and his applications are solid. [Do we ALL think that people who agree with us are brilliant? I guess we must. But really, he is.] But back to the food.

We went to the Hula Hut for dinner with Summer's husband Cole and our boss Rex, who's also here. While we ate out by the river, Cole was trying to explain to us why the Colorado River is called "Lake Austin" and "Town Lake" here in Austin. Now I haven't yet figured out why [surely I learned this at some point in school?] but it's not the SAME river as THE Colorado River. These Texans are something else. Maybe they also have a Tennessee River and a Mississippi River running around here. I'll check. I'm also trying to figure out why the "Hula Hut" serves Tex Mex, but it was great. I had roasted chicken enchiladas.

After dinner we headed for Amy's, the Austin ice-cream institution. I was too stuffed from our earlier exploits to have any, but I snuck a bite of Summer's cinnamon and graham-cracker ice cream. It was a lot fresher tasting than any other mix-in ice cream I've ever had before. No chemical aftertaste. Yum. Must eat less tomorrow to make room for ice cream.

Serious Cheese Fetish

2005-03-09T22:23:00.000-06:00

There's a girl at my office who's stopped eating cheese. Completely. Now, I cannot in any way relate to this dietary restriction. Or fathom why you'd consider it unless your physician said, "If you eat one more bite of cheese, you'll die tomorrow." I do try to keep my cheese obsession somewhat under control, but for some reason, today I came home totally craving it. So here's what I had to do:

• Make Rotel. I didn't even have Rotel itself, just salsa and Velveeta. It tastes a little different but still good. I am kind of mad at myself about this one, because when I bought the Velveeta at Costco last month, I thought, if I buy this, I'll just make Rotel. If I don't buy it, I'll never need it. And you see what happened.

* Make cheese bread. Now this is a great recipe. I would share it but I've decided I'm in the middle of messing with it. Once this came out of the oven, I realized that could I have waited, it would have solved the whole cheese craving on its own. But when you're struck with a fetish, it's hard to wait.

This cheese bread recipe is an adaptation of one I started making in 4-H in 7th grade. When I get done messing with it, I'll let you know how I've changed it. A long time ago, I started trying to substitute for the Bixmix, so that I didn't have to run to the store just to make this bread. I still don't feel I've got it quite right. It's a little too, well, greasy. But the underlying flavor is awesome. There are ways that it's better than the original too. Just a few more tweaks....

Cornbread woes

2005-03-01T21:30:00.000-06:00

Of course you know -- whether you're from here or not -- that in the South, everyone is very particular about their cornbread. I have always liked my mother's recipe. It's cooked in a skillet, it has no sugar, it's relatively flat. It is nice and crunchy on the bottom but soft inside. And it holds its shape perfectly. I really hate cornbread so crumbly you are just cleaning up for an hour afterward.

Years ago, as soon as I got my own cast-iron skillet, a fine one, I might add, I discovered the problem: my mother's recipe only worked in HER skillet. There was nothing magic to it -- mine was too big. I had no idea what size pan I should be looking for, but clearly, one smaller than mine. [I realize at this point in the story, you're thinking, ask your mom how big her skillet is. Or measure it next time you're home. Of course, I rejected both those options.]

Instead, I embarked on a several-year journey that I'm still in the midst of. But I've finally found a bit of a map on my expedition.

I got into my head this past weekend to make cornbread, but unlike all the completely bad recipes I've turned out in the past, I was DETERMINED to make it right. So I started looking in my cookbooks. After a couple of surprises [you'd be amazed at the cookbooks with no recipe for cornbread], I found what I wanted in Miss Daisy Celebrates Tennessee, the cookbook by Daisy King published for our bicentennial.

This recipe was a little different from my mother's -- but the most important part is that it specified an 8-inch skillet. With that frame of reference, I discovered that my skillet, at 10 inches, was about 50% bigger. [Rough math, but the recipe was the proof!] I increased the recipe accordingly and got great cornbread.

Now, it wasn't the SAME as my mom's. While good, it was fluffier than I like, though I suspect most people would prefer this. So I still have to go back and work on the other recipe for my own sake. I have a feeling that in the end, I'll buy an 8-inch skillet.

Phooey on food TV

2005-03-01T20:52:00.000-06:00

I've long been puzzled by many of my friends' attraction to the Food Network and other cooking shows on TV. It seems to overtake folks of a certain age; my 26-year-old sister reports that her friends aren't watching yet. I told her to give it about three years; I've been hearing about it for at least that long from all my friends, and that would about take care of our age gap.

But despite my love of piddling in the kitchen, I'm not in the least attracted to watching a TV show about cooking. Now, I will admit that if I'm flipping channels and I see someone making a good recipe, I'll stop to watch for a couple minutes. But I'm talking about people who intentionally sit down and watch an hour or more of television -- about other people cooking.

I have a theory about this. The South is full of hero-worshippers. We love our athletes, our soldiers, our ancestors. We respect authority. So when it comes to food, my friends are just giving a nod to the acknowledged authorities with their hours devoted to Iron Chef.

I think it also explains why I hate food television so much: 1. I would rather flout authority. 2. I can't like food TV if everyone else does.

What to eat when you're sick

2005-02-24T15:45:00.000-06:00

I've been just pitiful for the past two or three days. When I'm sick enough to stay home, it's bad. The nice thing is that I went grocery shopping earlier this week and I have tons of food here. So I've been on this quest to discover The Best Food to Eat When You're Sick.

After exhaustive research, I've found it. I did think for a day and a half that it must be homemade chicken soup, since I didn't have any and was craving it. But instead, this afternoon I learned different.

It's Ben & Jerry's vanilla ice cream with fresh raspberries on top, which have just the tiniest bit of sugar on them so they've gotten a little juicy.

Mmm. I think I need more now.

Barbecue snobbery

2005-02-21T21:37:00.000-06:00

I grew up in West Tennessee. It's one of those parts of the country that regards itself as the home of the best barbecue, period. The unfortunate part of having grown up with such a rich culinary heritage comes only if you move away from home. When I came to Nashville as a college student, I quickly discovered there wasn't much barbecue here to compare to well, everywhere back home. So I don't eat it nearly as often as I'd like.

Two places in particular meet my West Tennessee standards: Whitt's and Hog Heaven. Now for some reason, Whitt's serves their sandwiches with mayo and pickles....you just have to ask to get them without that nonsense and WITH their awesome vinegar sauce instead. Slaw is up to you.

Tonight we had to run an errand to Target....and evening errands to Target mean Whitt's for dinner. Mmm.

I was trying to explain to the 5-year-old about the Memphis in May BBQ contest. She understood that folks would come together and cook BBQ all weekend. But when I said that someone would be judged to be the best, she said, "I don't like that plan. Everyone else's feelings will be hurt." It's this New Age mumbo-jumbo they're teaching our kids now....winning is negative.

Trust me: in BBQ, there is a winner. And they're in West Tennessee. They use vinegar-based sauce. And the meat is tender but not mealy or mushy. It's a fine line.

Maybe she needs to see the men in pig outfits to properly understand the merits of BBQ competition?

Yummy new book

2005-02-21T21:30:00.000-06:00

After more than a week of great buzz in the NYT, I couldn't avoid the hype any longer: I bought French Women Don't Get Fat by Mireille Guiliano. I'm most of the way through it already. I can't say it has made me skinny yet [hey, give me a few days!!] but it definitely celebrates the joy in good food -- something we in America have managed to all but suck the life out of in the past few years. I am going to do my best to enjoy fresh, healthy food from here out. It doesn't SOUND hard, does it?

French dip sandwiches

2005-02-14T21:01:00.000-06:00

1 sirloin tip roast
1/2 cup lite soy sauce
1 beef bouillion cube
2 bay leaves
3-4 peppercorns
1 t. dried rosemary leaves
1 t. dried thyme
1 t. garlic powder

Place trimmed roast in 5 quart Crockpot. Mix other ingredients and pour over roast. Add water til roast is almost covered. Cook on high until very tender (6-7 hours). Remove roast, reserving broth. Shred roast with forks. Serve roast in French rolls with broth for dipping.

Serves 12-15.

On the menu, 2.13.2005

2005-02-13T11:44:00.000-06:00

It's Sunday and so I had more time for planning ahead than I normally do. When I made biscuits this morning, that immediately turned my mind to hash. You can't have hash without having had roast beef first of course. So I got the roast out of the freezer that I've had in there a while.

I have this fantastic recipe for french dip sandwiches from the family of one of my sister's exboyfriends. The only bad part about it is that it has to cook all day in the Crockpot. As I was explaining the other day to my optometrist's office [my new glasses took THREE WEEKS to come in], I am an impatient person. When it comes to dinner, I'm a 20-minute kind of girl.

That's not universally true for cooking -- I will occasionally spend a whole day cooking and if I had the time, I'd do it a lot more. But the point is, I don't have the time. Who does?

But the Crockpot does have its own set of luxuries: Set it up in the morning, and viola, dinner is complete with no further effort in the evening.

Recipe to follow....

Remembering to save dinner

2005-02-12T16:14:00.000-06:00

I've subscribed to Leanne Ely's Menu Mailer for more than a year now. It is a great, inexpensive [$30 or so] way to get six menus a week sent to you. They are varied and good for you. The only problem? I can't remember to print them out and use them.

I need to figure out how to hook them straight into my refrigerator and my Treo. That way, I can figure out what ingredients I need and just add them to the shopping list automatically. It SOUNDS far-fetched but there's bound to be a way to make all that work.