Nurturing my inner... other kind of cool

My car told me the temperature today on my way to its tune up: 16.  Yes, 16 degrees!  I shouldn't complain, because we've had a relatively mild winter, but I'm going to anyway.  (Because I'm a woman and we have to talk it out in order to move past it!  It's what we do.)  It was bitter cold this morning!  I even kept on my wool coat and scarf in the waiting room at the dealership for three hours.  Brrr.

"Dear summer... I miss you.  I want you back.  I should have appreciated you more when I had you.  What a fool I was.  As for you, winter, we're breaking up.  I'm over you.  It's clear we're moving in different directions.  (Mine is the one toward flip flops.)  You should go find someone better suited for you, who can love you and your chilly ways.  Like an Eskimo or a polar bear or a downhill skier.  But as for us, we're through.  There is no reconciling now that Christmas is over.  Move along now."

In a vain and desperate attempt to convince myself that warmer days were right around the corner, and not four months out, I popped open a popsicle today.  (While I wrapped myself in three layers of clothing, with thick socks, under a blanket.)

Perhaps hot cocoa and reality would
have been the better way to go.

I figured by the pure power of mental determination, and brute will of the suggestive mind, it would feel like 90 degrees in my condo in no time.  I was even *this close* to cranking up the thermostat to help create the balmy mirage I was aiming for.  (I was desperate, if you recall.  Don't judge.)

There are a few flavors, all with coconut.
I got mango, but there was also pineapple
and guava.

Smooze is a delicious way to give winter the chilly kiss off.  It's available at stores like Target or Whole Foods in the snacks or juices section.  It isn't frozen when you buy it.  You bring your box home and then put as many as you'd like in the freezer.  The next day, they are solid, fruity treats.

Scissors snip the top off easy.

Smooze is a grown up push up pop in a triangular shape.  After the top is sliced open, a little squeeze from the bottom and up we go.  A taste of summer in seconds.  No matter what time of year it really is.

Creamy, coconutty, coolness.

I'm sure it's still below 20 degrees out.  (Despite my flat out denial.)  But perhaps, just for the three minutes it took me to chow down my mango coconut popscicle, I was poolside, basking in the warmth of the big yellow ball in the sky.  Ahhhh.  Paradise.  Well, at least I know one thing: It may be frigid beyond measure right now, but soon enough, we'll all be complaining that it's too stinkin' hot out!  (There's just no pleasing us, is there?)

Nurturing my inner... never say never

There are some types of food I absolutely love, but would never dream of making at home.  Well, maybe not never.  I might dream about making it, but I would never think of actually trying to make it at home.  Well, maybe not never...

Chana Masala

1 tbsp Canola or vegetable oil
1 shallot, minced
1 clove garlic, minced
2 tbsps tomato paste
1 can of Garbanzo beans (chickpeas), with liquid
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp corriander
1 tsp turmeric
1 cinnamon stick
1/2 cup split yellow peas, cooked and drained
1 potato, raw, peeled and diced
1 cup chicken broth
1 1/2 cups water
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tbsp lemon juice

That may look like a substantial ingredient list, but it will be worth it.  Might as well start this adventure with a fearless attitude!  When I think "never," it really just turns into throwing down the gauntlet for myself.  (Consider it thrown.)

Indian food contains a complex, spectrum of flavors.  And I love it.  All of it.  There is little I haven't tried.  (Samosa, poori, biriyani, dal, paneer, dosa - I'll take some of everything and still have room for gulab jamun!)  I have my favorite local spots for easy carry out, (Harvest of India for the samosa, Mayuri for the palak paneer) but I just knew I couldn't leave this culinary, curried rock unturned.

Some main ingredients.

Indian food is all about layering.  And simmering.  And building.  And patience.  It cannot be rushed.  Unless you have a pressure cooker, then you can knock off an hour.  (I just tend to avoid having things in my kitchen that could explode and kill me.  But if you're comfortable with a pressure cooker, and have protective hockey playing equipment, then hey, have at it.)

Indians use lots of garlic and onions in their cooking which helps to make it extremely aromatic.  I swapped out a shallot in this case for the onion because it's what I had on hand.

It was an acceptable substitute for me,
since shallots are a lot like onions.

I chose Canola oil instead of olive because I wanted to have a very neutral flavor base to build upon.

Cook slowly on medium just to soften.

Garbanzo beans were going to be the main ingredient, according to the unsubstantiated, unrehearsed plan in my head, but I knew I wanted to add a few other veggies as well.  Split yellow peas for starters.  Because I used dry, I would recommend boiling them in hot water for 30 minutes and draining before adding.  It will just help soften them faster.  Or you could soak them overnight if you were terribly ambitious and a grand planner.

Buy in bulk. It's cost effective.

I also diced up a raw potato.  I figured it would add a nice creaminess to the chana masala, but would be neutral enough to not to compete with the other flavors.

Cut pieces around the same size.

I tossed into the pan, with the already softened garlic and shallot, the can of chickpeas, the yellow peas and potato.  Along with the cup of chicken broth and 1/2 cup of water.  (The rest of the water will go in later.)

It's a one pot (well pan) wonder. So to speak.

It takes me a while to go through something when I only have to use a couple of tablespoons of it at at a time.  So I thought I would try tomato paste in a tube where it would keep the air out and stay fresh for the next time.  (Whenever that might be.)

You can buy anchovies this way as well.

It's kind of fun to use too.  Like squeezing out crimson-colored toothpaste.  I stirred that in, covered and set it on simmer for 1 hour.  Stirring now and then, keeping a check on the water level.  After about the first 45 minutes to an hour, I put in the additional cup of water.  But you can add it whenever you see it needs it or it's running low on liquid.

It's definitely approximate measuring when
your ingredients come out of a tube.

Fortunately for me, Whole Foods had small containers of spices.  So I didn't feel like I was buying large quantities of spices I would probably use a bit less frequently than my normal stash.

The prices weren't bad either.

I waited until the last 30 minutes to put in the spices and salt.  Stirred those in, covered again, and let them infuse the beans and liquid.

I even like all the colors. Like an autumn
sunset painting.

You probably didn't expect the cinnamon stick, did you. Well, that's why Indian food is full of surprises. You may not have realized what you were tasting when you thought, "Hmmm, that's unusually yummy."  It's fun to decode the mysteries of your favorite dishes.

After 1 1/2 hours total simmer time, everything will be well blended, soft and creamy.  Test the potatoes and beans to make sure.  Everything should be tender.

Pretty darn convincing for a non Indian chef.

In the freezer I had some rice, so I thought I would use it instead of boiling some from scratch.  It wasn't Indian basmati, but Jasmine is really close to it and would suit the dish just fine.

It's quick and easy to make.

It's so simple.  Cut a slit in the wrapper on the top and put in the microwave for 3 minutes.  Fool proof.

Perfect rice every time.

A bit of herb will round out the dish at the end.  Fresh cilantro.  Chopped up.

The herb will brighten up the flavor of the beans.

So, rice, chana masala, cilantro and a squeeze of fresh lemon juice.  And I can no longer say I never made Indian food.  I did it!  And it was bahut acha.  (Very good.)

Who's afraid of ethnic cooking? Not me.

What else ya got?  German?  Turkish?  French?  I'm pretty sure I can do anything now!  There's just no stopping me.  And if I think I can't do it, well shoot, that's really just an invitation to challenge myself to discover otherwise!  (BTW, this was the same attitude I adopted when training for my first 5K, so it's quite versatile.  In fact, I should write a book about it, sell it, become a motivational speaker and tour the world!  Okay wait, first I need to tackle creme caramel.  Then I'll write my best seller and pack my bags for Europe.)

Nurturing my inner... substitute

What would you do if you had an abundance of one ingredient left over, say lentils, from a dish you made the day before where you clearly misjudged the amount you needed?  You'd get creative, that's what you'd do.

Reston Faked Beans

1 cup cooked black French lentils
3 strips of bacon, cut into pieces and cooked until crispy
1/8 tsp onion powder
2 tsps brown sugar
1 heaping tsp ketchup
1 heaping tsp mustard

I made a familiar lentil dish the other day, but used smaller French black lentils instead of green this time.  I think I incorrectly gauged the amount I would need, because I had an over abundance of extra, cooked lentils.  They aren't really the type of thing you eat on their own, plain, and I didn't have the ingredients I would need to make some other lentil dishes I was planning on tackling, so I had to think quickly on my feet.  For starters, what was in my freezer?  Mmm, bacon!

I cut up three strips into small pieces and cooked them in a saute pan on medium heat.

Cooked slowly. I don't like burnt bacon.

When the fat rendered out of the bacon, I scooped it up with a spoon, put it into a small container and then into the freezer.

It will come in handy when cooking and
flavoring vegetables.

I had put away my extra lentils from the day before with just a little bit of liquid in the bottom.  I wasn't sure if I might need it and I didn't want them to dry out.

Cooked in chicken broth. And available,
thanks to me, in abundance.

Once I had decided to add bacon to the lentils, I knew at that point, with things in my pantry, I could whip up some sort of understudy for baked beans.  A lentil is very beany, so it would lend itself nicely to this simple one ingredient swap out.  The rest of the flavors would be tried and true traditional ones.  Like brown sugar and onion.  (I had no fresh onion, so powdered would have to do.  It was a whole day of alternates.)

Sweet and savory, side by side.

Into a pan on medium heat, I added the lentils with their liquid, bacon, onion powder and brown sugar.

The bacon will soften a bit as it
cooks in the lentils.

And really, what would any kind of baked beans be without another pair of sweet and savory items that we all know and love.  (What's with all the two by twos today?)

Picnic's favorite couple.

Add the sweet...

Adds nice color too.

... and then the savory.  And let it all simmer for just a few minutes.

Will give it some zing.

With everything all mixed together, it was time to get on with the baking part.  I got these pumpkin-colored ramekins at World Market.  A pack of two for just a few dollars.  They were the perfect size for individual portions.

They had a bunch of colors to choose from.

I scooped half the lentil mixture into each ramekin.

Filled up about three quarters of the way.

I placed them into the oven at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes, until they were piping, bubbling hot.  The baking time helped the flavors all get absorbed into the lentils, creating a truly blended, and very convincing, baked bean taste.  Not too shabby if I do say so myself!

Yep, tasted nearly the same. Smokey and sweet.

Nice to know that you can create a delightful dish right out of your freezer and pantry in a pinch, so you don't waste good left overs.  With a little ingenuity, and a quick substitute, you can even fool yourself with a pretty clever stand-in.

Nurturing my inner... a thousand words

Today's challenge, should I wish to accept it (and I will because it's mine): to write about a recipe, but give you just one picture.  Oh yes, just the one!  Can it be done?  Am I really up to it?  Well, I figure if the age old saying holds true, the one picture I show you will be worth a thousand words.  (Or at least 500.)

Maryland Crab Cakes

1 lb jumbo lump crab (I got mine at BJ's Wholesale Club - $23.00)
2 tbsps plain bread crumbs (and more for the outside later)
4 tbsps mayonnaise
1 egg, beaten
1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp dry mustard
1 tsp Old Bay seasoning
1/2 tsp garlic powder
2 tsps fresh lemon juice
1/4 tsp salt

I actually made these for Christmas Eve dinner for my family.  It turned out to be the Feast of the One Fish, instead of the traditional Italian Feast of the Seven Fishes.  (Hey, these are hard economic times.)

Take the crab out of the container, loosen it up gently and check for any pieces of shell.  Discard the shell fragments, because no one wants to crunch down on one of those by mistake.  That can really ruin the entire experience.

I believe the ingredients of a crab cake should be somewhat traditional, but I do NOT like adding red bell pepper or an excess of breading.  The pepper ruins them, if you ask me, because it totally overpowers all the other flavors.  And if I wanted a bunch of extra filler in there instead of crab, then I guess I'd order a bread cake instead.  A crab cake should be mostly crab, in large pieces so you can identify it, with just a bit of binder to hold it all together.  If you're going to make the effort to cook crab cakes, you really should do it up right.

In a bowl, mix together all the ingredients except for the crab.  When everything is well incorporated, gently fold in the crab so you don't break it up too much.  I like large pieces of crab in my cake and not a lot of filler, so I went with the jumbo lump, but you could do half jumbo and half regular crab if you want to go a little lighter on the wallet.  Though really, I got about nine cakes from one batch, so if you divide that up by the cost of the one pound of jumbo lump crab you used, that's only $2.50 per crab cake!  We each had two - so $5.00 per person.  I have paid $23.00 (plus tax and tip!) for a one serving two crab cake dinner at a local favorite restaurant.  An $18.00 savings by making them at home?  Now that's something I can get behind!

Take out a flat plate and sprinkle some plain breadcrumbs on it.  Form the crab mixture into pucks about the size of your palm or a small hamburger.  Set down into the crumbs and lightly pat down on each side to coat.  Place on a plate and put into the fridge to chill for 30 minutes to an hour so they firm up.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.  On your stove top, heat up a saute pan to medium, add some butter and put a few crab cakes down into the melted butter.  Gently fry on one side for a few minutes or until they form a nice, golden crust.  Carefully, and quickly so they don't fall apart, flip them over and do the same on the other sides.  Take them out of the pan and put them on a foil lined baking sheet.  Repeat until all crab cakes have been properly crusted.

Place in the oven and bake for 10 minutes or until warm on the inside.  You'll see them bubble a bit when hot.  Take them out and serve with a squeeze of fresh lemon juice and tarter sauce if you prefer.

Gorgeous! See, who needs more than one picture.
That says it all to me!

My mom said these were the best crab cakes she's ever had; equally as good as ones she's eaten in some great restaurants throughout the famous blue crab cake making state of Maryland.  My mom is particular, so that compliment is bigger than you might think.  I must be on to something if she was impressed.

I think my word quota is probably up by now.  So I'll just let the picture keep on talking...

Nurturing my inner... time for change

Today, I made my very first picture calendar.  Of course, I had been meaning to do this for some time, but was lazy.  I had an email coupon for a free one if I did it in the next two days, so I ran out of excuses and had great motivation.  I had the day off as well, so I hunkered down for a couple hours this morning and made one for my mom.

It was really fun to choose the pictures and the captions.  I knew I wanted to do one for mom of the vacation we took with my brother last year.  Seeing as it's rare these days for all three of us to be together at the same time, especially for days in a row, I thought it would be a fun way for her to remember our trip and the time we spent as a family.

It's easy, upload pics and write captions.
They can be brief.

As I was creating the calendar, I was thinking about family and growing up.  Remembering how my mother always made us a complete, home cooked meal.  I'm very thankful for that.  We didn't go out for dinner unless it was a special occasion.  Times were very different then.  One thing we ate, that I thought was okay, was brussels sprouts.  Mom bought them frozen, boiled them and then added a little butter and salt.  That was it.  By no means did I hate them, but I wasn't really wowed by the somewhat soppy veggie either.  I just knew I could do something more exciting.

Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Pancetta and Shallot

1 lb fresh brussels sprouts, sliced in half
1/3 lb pancetta, cubed
2 tbsp olive oil
1 large shallot, sliced
Sprinkle of sea salt
Squeeze of fresh lemon juice

They come in a mesh bag, harvested off
of a stick like branch.

Brussels sprouts, which look like mini cabbages, have rough stems.

Sometimes bugs have taken a few bites of those
outer leaves.

They need to be trimmed and the tough outer leaves removed.

Out with the bad stuff.

They'll look much more appetizing after you clean them up.

Perfectly perfect.

Repeat the cleaning process for the entire bag.

Quite a few per pound.

I sliced them in half.  So many densely wrapped leaves in there.  From dark green on the outside to light yellow inside.

A green to yellow rainbow.

Slice every last one.  If you had particularly large ones, you could quarter them.

Bunches of them when you're done.

Add to a bowl, drizzle with olive oil and throw in some salt and freshly cracked pepper.  Toss.

Basic ingredients added will enhance the
natural flavor.

Spread them all out on a baking sheet in one layer.

No crowding.

I popped them into a 400 degree oven for 30 minutes.  About half way through, I used a spatula and flipped them over so the other sides would brown.  Then 10 minutes before the sprouts were going to be done, I took some pancetta out of the fridge.  Pancetta is an Italian uncured bacon.  I just asked the deli lady to cut me a thick slice or two to weigh in at about 1/3 of a pound.

This one was actually an organic version made
in the USA!

I cubed it and tossed it into a saute pan on medium heat.

The fat will soon form and your pancetta
won't stick to the pan.

In about five to seven minutes the pancetta will get crispy and browned.  I removed most of the fat with a spoon and put it aside to freeze and use in future dishes.  I try not to waste anything these days.

Cook out all the fat and crisp it up.

The shallot has become such a wonderful friend to me.  I use it often now in place of regular onions.  I find the flavor to be sweeter and more mild.

A good-sized one.

I prefer to slice it really thin.  I also like that they are small, so I use one shallot at a time and every time I cook, I get to start with a fresh one.

Use a sharp knife to slice super thin.

In to the pan goes the shallot and that will get cooked with the pancetta for another couple of minutes until the shallot becomes translucent.

Aromatic together.

After half an hour, the brussels sprouts were done, so I removed them from the oven.

Beautifully caramelized.

I put the brussels sprouts and the pancetta with shallots into a bowl and tossed it with just a splash of fresh lemon juice.

Give it a hearty toss.

I spooned some into a small bowl and had a great new side dish.  I can tell you that they don't taste like brussels sprouts.  (Well, not as you remember them.)  I can't tell you exactly what they do taste like though.  I'm not sure how to describe them.  But you are going to be in for a nice surprise if you make them this way.  I'll bet you find out that if you thought you hated brussels sprouts your whole life, you were wrong.  You just hadn't had them made the right way.  Moms do know best a lot, but once in a while, the kids can teach them something new.

Does that look soggy and mushy to you?
No way!

I'm glad my family took a trip last year to a part of the country none of us had ever been to before.  We developed a greater respect for the contributions of Lewis and Clark by hearing more of their history in detail, went to the top of the 630 foot Gateway Arch in this tiny five person pod, took a carriage ride around the city with a sturdy horse named Maximus, climbed through the wonders of Meramec Caverns, and of course, ate toasted ravioli, provel cheese pizza and Ted Drewe's Custard.  All local favorites.



Good memories that we'll have forever.


Families live so far apart these days that they don't see each other as often as they used to.  Even if your time with your family is limited, or they drive you crazy, (just sayin'), I hope you try to make the most of what time you do have together.  You never know how long you'll have someone and time really does fly by all too quickly.  Maybe now that you've gotten older, your parents will even let you teach them a thing or two.  Just don't get too lippy with them or they will still feel the need to ground you.