Cook Play Explore

Blood Orange Cupcakes

2012-02-14T09:04:00.000-08:00

Here's a cheers to hearts, sweetness... and pink food. This is a little recipe that might trigger your love for something different than the artificial color Red 40: Blood orange juice with powdered sugar, covering a cupcake with lemon zest and dry raspberry powder.
This is my second experiment with natural colors to celebrate today: The first was the pasta with passion sauce, pretty but not easy to love if beets are not in your repertoire of loved foods.
But if you're still have time to prepare more than a treat for your Valentines, here are some suggestions from our collection f recipes, as romantic as a flower:
Rose Ganache, rose meringue clouds, lavender and camomile truffles, all from Darienne's collection of delicacies.
Oh, and of course, Happy Valentine's!

Blood Orange and Raspberry Dust Cupcake

Blood oranges are in season in California. It's possible to freeze the juice if your cake will be celebrating other dates other than Valentine's.

1/2 cup canola oil
1 cup sugar
2 teaspoons lemon zest
2 teaspoons blood orange juice
2 tablespoons dried raspberries,ground
2 large eggs
1/2 cup 2% milk
1 1/2 cups all purpose non bleached flour, sifted
1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder, sifted with the flour
1 teaspoon kosher salt

Glaze:
Juice from 2 blood oranges
Enough powdered sugar to make a thick glaze

Distribute balking cups in a a cupcake baking sheet. Preheat oven to 350 F. Mix sugar and canola oil to achieve a creamy texture. Gradually add eggs, juice, zest. Mix dry ingredients and bring them to the bowl with the eggs and milk mix. Pour batter on the baking cups, filling up 2/3 of each. Bake for about 20 to 25 minutes. For the glaze start adding powdered sugar mixing to the juice with a whisk, up to when glaze gets thick.

Bella Notte Red Sauce

2012-02-12T09:54:00.000-08:00

Valentine's spirit started to fly around here when I was watching a commercial break reminding me of the cuteness of The Lady and The Tramp. And that Bella Note song, and... the unforgettable night of two dogs and one plate. But not the pasta nor the meatballs triggered my disposition to run to the kitchen. The red sauce actually was the one to make me go to Trader Joe's, as fast as I could.

Of course the Italian chef of the movie would never make that sauce from cans or jars, right?

Before this, I tried many recipes for a tasty tomato sauce, but none seemed to be good enough to make me forget about the tomato pelatti from Italy ready to be prepared in my kitchen. Or the sometimes delicious ready sauces that abound in the shelves of Trader Joe's.

This sauce that made my kids happy and fascinated to see the once upon a time tomatoes turned into sauce being processed on a old school food mill. I used organic tomatoes from Mexico - a shorter trip to California then the Italian ones from the can. Can't wait for the tomato season to start here as I am daydreaming about a sauce made of heirloom tomatoes. Then I will happily repeat this recipe of home made pasta here: Semolina and Farro Togliolini .
In this recipe got inspired by Alton's Brown roasting method. I hope this will inspire you too. I always think that there's no trouble on the comfort brought from food. But when made from scratch, the red sauce will maybe bring romantic notes to your table. Or maybe just the feeling that you had traveled to Italy. Or whatever inspirations suit your Valentine's dreams

Red Sauce Bella Notte

There's a big debate about seeds, peels and tomatoes when making tomato sauce. I tested with and without seeds, and the results were very similar. I also read that what really matters is the pot material: Some advocate the use of non-reactive materials such as tempered glass or enamel. THis time I used pyrex and a Le Creuset baking dish. Some believe that there's no need to worry about seeds, and that the nonnas in old Italy will cook good tomato sauce in any pot, with lots of love.

4 pounds roma tomatoes
5 cloves of garlic (if you find the giant garlic from California, even better)
1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
Garlic Infused olive oil to drizzle
Kosher salt to taste
Oregano, to taste
Thyme, to taste
4 Bay leaves
Fresh Basil to garnish (optional)
1/2 cup of wine (optional, your choice of red or white)
Caramelized yellow onion to garnish (optional)

Preheat oven to 325 F. Coat baking dishes with olive oil. Halve tomatoes and put them with the open side facing up on the baking dish. Sprinkle with salt, herbs and drizzle with olive oil. Bake for 2 hours. After one hour, check them and turn them if they are already cooked. After 2 hours raise oven temperature to 400 F and roast for about 15 to 30 minutes. Remove and process the tomatoes in a food mill to get rid of skins and seeds. It's possible to do that with a sieve, pressing tomatoes with a wooden spoon. I used seeds and skins to make a topping for a bruschetta. Bring sauce back to the heat and add wine. Cook on high heat for about 3 minutes, and simmer for about 7 minutes ore. Adjust salt and other spices if you need to. And maybe, if you really need a little bit of sweetness added, half a teaspoon of raw sugar will do the trick.

The Mystery Soup Game

2012-02-04T10:43:00.000-08:00

It looks like sweet potatoes, carrots, or maybe pumpkin cream. But after tasting it, all were curious about its different flavors and textures and started to try to figure out its ingredients.

That's how our table-dinner-game "Guess what's in the mystery soup" began here, and it's become a successful and fun way to coax kids to eat a second serving — or maybe even a third — of something they usually are not so interested in!

We've played the game every Monday since winter began, and the kids' repertoire of ingredients (and even mine) is growing. After tasting one spoonful of soup, the players can guess one ingredient. If it's correct, we add to the list. The one who makes the most correct guesses can choose a treat for dessert.

Next week, the winner of the most challenges will get to take part in preparing the soup, and I hope it will be lots of fun. The boys also talked about Ratatouille, the movie, and could not stop thinking about watching it again to try to figure what was in the soup cooked by the little chef, the rat.

I believe any soup is good for the game, as long as you process it with a blender before serving. For now, our recipe for a soup that had amazing reviews here:

Mystery Soup Number 1

I cook the soup in a pressure cooker to make sure the vitamins won't fly away. If using a regular stockpot, double the cooking time.

1 tablespoon olive oil
a little flour

1/2 leek, chopped

1 cup yellow split peas
2 cloves garlic
Salt to taste
4 cups water
1 teaspoon dry basil
1 cup your favorite recipe (or jar) of tomato sauce

Heat olive oil and add flour, mixing it to prepare the base of the soup. When almost brown, add leeks and let them cook until transparent. Add minced garlic and then split peas, and mix well with a wooden spoon. Add salt, then water and tomato sauce.

Cook for 35 minutes in a pressure cooker or just over an hour, until all the ingredients are soft. Process with a hand blender and serve with a swirl of Greek yogurt or cream.

Simply citrus: Homemade syrups, salts, and preserved lemons

2012-01-25T16:46:00.000-08:00

Citrus season is in full swing here, and I'm making the most of it. My lemon tree is churning out a generous bounty, and I'm loading my market bag with blood oranges, grapefruit, and some of the most spectacular navel oranges I've ever enjoyed. Today I have a handful of recipes to help you make full use of winter citrus while it's at its peak. These are all simple and economical recipes to help preserve the best of the season: syrups and frozen concentrates, finishing salts, and preserved lemons.

It's worth seeking out organic fruit for these recipes, particularly those that make use of the peel. This is a good time to score a bargain on organic citrus. These are easy to make with kids, too (be sure to supervise them if they use a grater).

If you're crazy for still more citrus, start a batch of limoncello that will be ready in time for summer, make lemon curd (or mango-lime curd, swoon!), or treat your favorite people to candied citrus peels.

Blood orange juice

Lemonade Syrup, and Blood Orange Variation

Store the syrup in the refrigerator for up to a week, or freeze as homemade juice concentrate. I love the taste of raw or organic sugar, but it adds a golden-brown tint. It's barely noticeable in lemonade, but it blunts the the vivid color of blood orange juice. This recipe yields four 8-oz. drinks; scale up or down to meet your needs.

1 cup sugar
1 cup water
1 cup lemon juice

Combine sugar and water in a saucepan and bring to a boil, stirring to dissolve sugar. Let cool, the combine with lemon juice.

To prepare a drink, combine equal parts lemonade syrup with water — you may need to adjust proportions to suit your taste.

For concentrate, freeze portions in plastic containers, then store the frozen blocks in an airtight freezer bag or container.

Blood Orange Syrup: Substitute blood orange juice for lemon juice. This syrup is also especially good poured over shave ice or added to a glass of sparkling water.

Frozen blocks of lemonade concentrate, waiting for summer

Citrus Salt

I intended to make this ages ago, after seeing it over at Steamy Kitchen, but only just got around to it after it was featured at 101 Cookbooks. Try citrus salt as a finishing touch with chicken, seafood, and vegetable dishes. Be sure to juice the fruit after removing the zest and use it to make the syrup recipes that follow.

organic lemons, oranges, and/or limes
sea salt

Scrub fruit well and dry thoroughly. Zest fruit, being careful not to remove the bitter white pith. Combine about 1 tablespoon of zest with 1/2 cup sea salt, mixing thoroughly with a fork.

Lay salt blend on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Let it sit out a while to dry, or put it in a 200 degree oven for 75 minutes to two hours, until zest is dry and crumbles easily between your fingers. You could do this in a dehydrator, too.

Store in an airtight container and it should keep for a few months.

Lemon salt, top, and orange-lime salt

Preserved Lemons

Try dicing preserved lemons and whisking them with a bit of olive oil, salt, and pepper for a fantastic dressing, as in my Persimmon and Fennel Salad. They're delicious with rice and other grains, in marinades, and atop simply cooked chicken and fish.

organic lemons
kosher salt or coarse sea salt
a large jar with tight-fitting lid
optional spices: cinnamon stick, cloves, cardamom pods, bay leaves, coriander seeds, fennel seeds, peppercorns

Be sure to have enough lemons to fill your jar, plus a few more for juice. First, sterilize your jar and lid by boiling them in water for 10 minutes.

Scrub lemons well and trim away any stems. Slice the lemons almost completely in half, but not all the way through. Make another cut, perpendicular to the first, so you've cut the lemons nearly into quarters. Sprinkle some salt in the bottom of the jar. Pack the cuts in the lemons with salt and put them in the jar. Pack firmly, squishing out some of the juice. Add any spices, if you wish, top off with another sprinkle of salt, and add enough lemon juice to completely submerge the lemons.

Shake the jar every day or two to evenly distribute juice and salt. As lemons soften, add a few more.

Your lemons will be ready in 3 to 4 weeks. They're very salty: You may want to rinse them before using, and taste before adding more salt to a dish.

I've been assured the jar never needs refrigeration, but I stick it in the fridge after opening it and try to use them up within 6 to 8 months.

Preserved lemons are perfect for Persimmon and Fennel Salad

A feast for the new year

2012-01-22T05:00:00.000-08:00

We just finished cleaning up and decorating our home this weekend to usher in the Year of the Water Dragon, which kicks off Monday.

I didn't mark Lunar New Year while growing up in New England, but it's an eagerly anticipated holiday for my sons. It's such a joyful celebration — and food, of course, is part of the fun.

A little lion

We've done a little tidying up, set out fresh flowers and mandarin oranges, and hung up our decorations. For New Year's, we'll enjoy a modest feast with a nod to traditional dishes. The start of the new year snuck up on me, however, so we'll be taking advantage of the fact that this is the year of the creative, independent, and calm water dragon, and make do the best we can (without braving the busy Asian market just before the holiday!).

I'll be making long noodles — spaghetti, this year! — to celebrate long life. We just finished off the last of our homemade dumplings from the freezer, so we'll get by with ravioli for our "little purses." And I might make this stir-fried lettuce for a little more good luck. We'll make more traditional fare before the holiday ends. Read on for a few more ways to celebrate:

Wrapping dumplings

Make dumplings. The first few may come out a bit wonky, but you'll soon get the hang of these delicious little purses. Kids enjoy making them too — just be sure the edges are well sealed so they don't split open during cooking. To freeze, set the dumplings on a silicone baking mat or parchment, then store them in a freezer bag for a quick meal later. My kids love to find dumplings in their lunch box.

Beautifully marbled tea eggs

Prepare tea eggs. Oh, I love these! These are fun to make, lovely to look at, and delicious to eat. Like dumplings, they're perfect for a lunch box. It's an easy recipe to do with kids too.

Have a popiah party. Like dumplings, these Taiwanese crepes symbolize prosperity and good fortune — and are another way to involve kids.

Baked rice cake

Bake sweet rice cake. You'll need glutinous rice flour for this, but it's worth seeking out (try an Asian market) for this slightly lighter and easier take on the traditional sweet.

More ways to celebrate: Wear new clothes, get a hair cut, and set off party poppers in lieu of firecrackers! And don't forget to give the kids red envelopes with crisp dollar bills inside.

To learn a little more about the holiday, visit Wikipedia. And for more inspiration in the kitchen, check out this feature at Epicurious.

May the Year of the Water Dragon bring you and your family good fortune!

Cocoa and Cinnamon Biscotti

2012-01-20T13:31:00.000-08:00

My 7-year-old and I were extremely bored last Monday. It was Martin Luther King Jr. Day and we were trying to find something else to do with our free time at home, apart of dreaming about traveling to snowy places.

That's when Darienne's latest series of posts and somehow one chapter of An Everlasting Meal, by Tamar Adler, started to act as a magic potion on my motivation.

We headed to the kitchen and I invited my son to make an experiment. At this point I have to add some background to the story: Science is highly appreciated here and anything related to mixing things and heating them to see what happens is welcome, especially by the older kid.

So he announced he wanted to try to bake a "I have a dream kind of cake" to celebrate the reason for the school day off. We started putting ingredients on the dining table and he helped choose his favorites: cocoa, cinnamon and vanilla. He asked me what to do. I declared that we would bake with no recipe, using our intuition and mixing things and adjusting the quantities. While I would add the ingredients, he would take notes. Then he mixed all the liquid ingredients with Mr. Whisk — a very lovely kitchen tool (in the photo).

Flour, eggs, milk, canola oil, baking powder, cocoa, cinnamon, vanilla and chocolate chips were added gradually. We both stirred everything with the help of a vintage wooden spoon as we dared to make an "old times" cake, with no electricity wasted. The batter was looking beautiful and uniform, ready to go and be baked. He decided to include a secret ingredient, so to make the recipe unique. We did.

After 40 minutes the cake was ready — perfect taste and not so perfect texture — too dense. But the boy didn't care about the texture and enjoyed a big slice of it with a tall glass of milk. After one day of sitting on the countertop I just decided to give it a second chance. I sliced it with a sharp knife, and baked the sliced cake for about one hour. That's how these wonderful biscottis were born! And they made me think if somewhere in Italy biscottis were created like this — by chance. Or if it was just a way of giving a longer life to a once-upon-a-time cake.

Cocoa Cinnamon Biscotti

I see this recipe as a reference and a "freedom license" to create something out of it. For sure we will revisit it sometime to achieve the texture I would love to have. Darienne had a sample and called the biscotti a cross in between biscotti and brownies.

2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1/3 cup cocoa
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/3 cup sugar
1/3 cup chocolate chips
1 teaspoon baking powder
3 eggs
1/4 cup canola oil
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 1/4 cup milk
1 tablespoon your secret ingredient

Preheat oven to 350F. Mix all dried in a bowl. In another bowl whisk all liquid ingredients. Pour liquid into dry ingredients and stir with a wooden spoon. When blended, add chocolate chips and fold them to the batter. Transfer mix to a 9-x-13-inch cake pan and bake for about 35 minutes. When cold, slice it and bake the slices for about 30 more minutes at 375 F.

Seeking balance

2012-01-14T05:00:00.000-08:00

I follow scores of food blogs and browse several magazines with recipes. The list of dishes I'd like to try far exceeds anything I might actually tackle. I drift from whim to whim, and typically feel I'm neglecting something I meant to do. Too often, I spend so much time figuring out what exactly I want to do that there's not time to actually do it. Which is ridiculous.

Balance is the key. It's an ongoing struggle, but here are a few things that might help.

Just say no

If you tend to take on too much, try saying no — at first. It isn't as negative as it sounds. Whenever I'm seized with the impulse to make/do/buy something, I say no. In my head, it goes like this: "Ooh! Such-and-such holiday that my family doesn't even celebrate is coming up and I should try to make that complicated traditional dish for it … " And then I stop. No. Just … no.

And more often than not, it's a relief to let myself off the hook. If I end up saying yes, it's only because I've convinced myself it's a good idea, and in the process I've usually figured out a reasonable way to get it done without turning my life inside-out.

Plan meals

I've written about this before, but it's essential to maintaining sanity in the kitchen: Make a workable meal plan and do your best to stick to it.

A couple tips:

Create a simple, two-week plan of favorite dishes you can make blindfolded and with one hand tied behind your back. Set it up on a repeating cycle in an online calendar. This is the default plan. From here, customize to your heart's content. (Read this post for more.)
Pair up meals to make good use of ingredients. If you roast a chicken one day, plan for chicken salad, enchiladas, or soup the next. If one meal uses half a can of coconut milk, plan something the next day to use the leftovers (like this dessert). Today's roast vegetables become tomorrow's soup, frittata, or veggie taco. (Check out this recent article in the NY Times for inspiration.)
Keep a freezer inventory. If you stash food away for a rainy day, don't waste it! Clean out the freezer three or four times a year, tossing the funky stuff and jotting down everything that goes back in. Type it up, post it in the kitchen, and update it as needed. In your meal plan, be sure to include convenient freezer meals for busy days.

Put technology to work

Quick access to recipes on my phone and computer help me improvise without waste at the market. A few favorite tools:

Evernote is simply amazing. I clip recipes from websites, email pictures of print recipes taken with my phone, and sync it all among my phone, our iPad, and my computer. Evernote can even search text in images, making it incredibly easy to find a half-remembered recipe when you're eyeing a special at the market.
MacGourmet recipe software keeps my personal collection always accessible. It automatically imports recipes from dozens of sites, and is almost as easy to search as Evernote. Creating grocery lists is easy, and I can figure out nutritional info for my own recipes. It's for Mac only, unfortunately, so it may not be right for you. Other options include these alternatives recommended by Lifehacker readers.
Save money and enjoy peak produce by buying what's in season where you live with this seasonal ingredient map from Epicurious. Sticking to a seasonal menu helps simplify and focus meal planning.

Scores of popular recipes resources have phone-friendly versions, including Epicurious, Allrecipes, and Everyday Food. I frequently turn to Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything app.

Rely on routines and rituals

Repetition evolves into ritual. Make-your-own pizza one night is fun; do it every Friday, and it's a family event. We have a few rituals: One night each week my husband makes his stir-fry, I slip out to a coffee shop to work, and my kids enjoy "boys' night" with dad. Saturdays it's lunch at at a favorite sandwich shop. During baseball season, we picnic at the field before practices. These rituals provide structure and much-needed breaks.

Aim to please just one person at a time

You probably can't please your whole family with one meal, I wrote yesterday, and trying to do so can be frustrating. If you struggle with this, here's my advice: Stop trying.

Instead, try to please one at a time. We take turns being the "star of the day" in my family, an approach that helps resolve who gets to choose the bedtime story or pick a TV show. I apply the same idea to my meal plan, making sure at least one night a week the main dish is focused on pleasing one of the very different personalities in my home.

Take time off

When you're feeling run-down, sometimes the answer is as simple as stepping off the hamster wheel. A smart friend of mine orders takeout every Friday night. We go out to lunch every Saturday and my husband takes over dinner duty every Monday. Give yourself a break. No one's about to give you a trophy for all your hard work. If you're tuckered out, take off the apron, pour some cereal for dinner, have a seat, and enjoy your family.

And with that, I'm wrapping up my New Year musings and taking a little break for the weekend. Thanks for reading along, and for the comments here, at Facebook, and over e-mail, for this little series and throughout the past few years. Here's to a healthy, happy 2012!
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A healthy attitude for healthy meals

2012-01-13T05:00:00.000-08:00

No one in my family savors food the way I do. The boys all have favorite foods and occasional cravings, but what they're eating just isn't as important to them as it is to me. I'm finally starting to adjust my expectations, to realize that just because I'm excited to try a new roast chicken recipe doesn't mean anyone else will be.

Preparing family meals can feel like a lonely job, especially with picky eaters. The solution, of course, is to make it less lonely. Yesterday I wrote about letting go of some of the emotional baggage by compromise and ceding some control to the kids. Today, here are a few ways the grownups can make mealtime more fun.

Train helpers

It isn't enough to ask or insist. I'm trying to be better about teaching my family how to help.

For example, my husband said he'd be happy to share meal duty, but he doesn't know how to cook. He can make a killer lasagna, but that’s best enjoyed as an occasional indulgence.

Together we came up with something new but simple: Every Monday for months, he made penne pasta with chicken sausage. And after we tired of that, I taught him how to make a simple (and healthier) stir-fry. Baby steps.

My kids run hot and cold on helping in the kitchen, and I don't ask them to lend a hand enough. With a little more patience on my part, I can help them own some of the small jobs at dinner time. A simple invitation to taste-test usually leads to a suggestion, and then a little person's pushing a chair over to the counter to do the work himself.

For some inspiration, we have dozens of kid-tested recipes. For ideas on how to get kids involved with meal prep, check out this list at MyPlate.gov.

Find the fun

There's a reason kids like Happy Meals, and it has nothing to do with the food. A little goofiness can be a great way to break down barriers at the table. If nothing else, you'll enjoy the break in routine!

A few quick ideas:

Make it fancy. Dress up nice, set out the fancy candles, and serve the milk in plastic wine glasses. Practice good manners by playing the part.
Play with color. Throw the kids for a loop with a monochromatic meal — say, chicken nuggets, corn, and mango chunks, or spinach pasta with pesto, green beans, and kiwi. Tint the milk to match. (Though this is probably a maddening idea to anyone whose kid is stuck in the all-white-foods phase.) At the other end of the spectrum, make a meal with every color of the rainbow!
Picnic. Spread out a blanket in the back yard or on the living room floor and serve dinner from a picnic basket.
Play drive-through. Let the kids make the menu, pick up cheap toys from the dollar bins at Target and stuff them in paper bags, and turn the kitchen into a drive-through.
Eat at the kids' table. Instead of the dining table, sit down at that teeny tiny little table where the kids do all their coloring and scissoring and play-dough smooshing. Your knees will be in agony afterward, but the kids will love it.

Pizza night. We did this every Friday for a while, and the kids looked forward to it. We need to revive pizza night at my house!
Dinner and a movie. Pick a movie and meal to match — ratatouille, of course, for the movie of the same name, noodles with Ponyo, ants on a log or ant's house cake with Bugs, apples with Tangled, etc.

Feast with friends

Food is best enjoyed with friends, of course! Give another parent a welcome break prep and invite their family over for dinner. It might be just a simple roast chicken with salad on the side, or even take-out, but with all the happy chatter at the table there won't be any complaints. Shift the focus from the food to enjoying good company, and you'll help your children learn to appreciate the value of gathering at the table.

My get-togethers with Anna and her kids have been an invaluable creative outlet for me. That's when I stretch my wings and take risks. She's always an enthusiastic guest, and usually finds a way to elevate an ordinary dish into something extraordinary. If my kids won't touch the food, hers might. That's my test kitchen, and dishes that make the cut find their way to my family table later.

Tomorrow, some thoughts on staying organized and finding balance. Until then: How do you turn things around when you're worn out with kitchen duty?

Compromise as a path to mealtime peace

2012-01-12T05:00:00.000-08:00

One of the first things moms learn: You can't please everyone all the time. You probably can't even please most. Apparently, I need to absorb that lesson again and again: I keep serving up dinners hoping for a chorus of wows, then taking it personally when one (or more) diners pokes halfheartedly as his plate and sets his fork down. As I rework my approach at the start of the year, I'm looking for chances to meet the kids halfway. Well, almost halfway — there's room for compromise.

Put the kids in charge

I confess, my knee-jerk reaction would be to snap, "Fine, why don't you just make dinner yourself!" My more mature, parental response: Have a go at it, kids! Here's a cookbook — take a look, and pick out something you want for dinner this week.

Kids can't plan a meal without some guidance, of course. Take a look at the nutrition guidelines at MyPlate.gov for preschoolers and older kids, print out a MyPlate place mat, and challenge the children to come up with a reasonable meal.

It won't be anything like the kind of meal you'd plan, but that's the point. If parents smile graciously and eat a meal of plain, buttered spaghetti, white bread, and baby carrots, the kids might — might — be better sports about chicken curry with roasted Brussel sprouts. (I know not everyone is on board with MyPlate, but it isn't a bad starting point for talking nutrition with kids.)

To help kids get inspired, hand them a child-friendly cookbook. I love Mollie Katzen's Pretend Soup and Other Real Recipes, which has illustrated steps for pre-readers. The website for They Draw and Cook is a visual wonderland, and their cookbook is fun to browse (though young readers might need help with the fonts and handwriting).

Relax standards

I don't advocate buying a lot of processed junk, heating it up, and calling it nourishment. But it's emotionally healthy to let go, a little bit, and embrace some conveniences that won't kill us. Don't laugh, but it's taken me a long time to accept that steamed frozen vegetables are an OK alternative to freshly peeled, cut, seasoned, and roasted carrots.

Seriously, I'm lucky to live in a place where fresh, local vegetables are abundant year-round. But if I'm already investing time and attention in what should be a fantastic meal of chicken parmigiana, we might all be happier with steamed frozen veggies on the side rather than a cranky mama who labored over the carrots around and in between the chicken cutlets.

Delegate

Resentment is toxic. Instead of taking responsibility for everyone's satisfaction, put the responsibility back on them.

A great way to end the lunch box blues, for example, is to let your child choose what to eat. Present a menu of reasonable options, get a few suggestions from your child, and you have a plan for the week. Download and customize this menu I made for my second-grader, inspired by this menu shared at TipJunkie. Kids can even help pack their lunch. (If you have trouble with the download, drop me a note and I'll e-mail it.)

You may still chafe if your child barely touches his packed lunch, but it's no longer your burden. You're freed from guilt, second-guessing, and irritation, and instead can help your child figure out how to make a better choice next time.

Allow reasonable alternatives

Experts agree: Don't become a short-order cook for your kids. But you can give them an out if they really don't like dinner — provided you keep it reasonable.

I wrote two years ago about a genius tip to offer one simple, plain, and healthy backup choice to end mealtime battles (courtesy of It's Not About Nutrition).

My now 7-year-old is no longer interested in cottage cheese, but he can prepare a slice of buttered whole-wheat toast all on his own. I no longer offer a backup, but sometimes he'll ask: "Could I make a slice of toast? I don't really like dinner."

A slice of wheat toast isn't the best dinner, but it isn't the worst either. Best of all, he feels empowered to take care of his needs himself.

Tomorrow, some tips for facing meal prep with a good attitude. Until then: How do you stay positive in the kitchen? Do you have a favorite kids' cookbook, or a tip for managing picky eaters?

A fresh look at mealtime

2012-01-11T09:40:00.000-08:00

I'm not one for making new year's resolutions, but the aftermath of the holiday season is a natural pause point. I'm catching my breath after the holiday fun, appreciating what’s been going well, figuring out what needs tweaking, and making a few course corrections.

Feeding my family is a central thread in that process. Nourishing my family is an act of love — or at least it should be. But it doesn't always feel that way after I've navigated the market, done all the chopping and sautéing and baking while helping with homework and mediating sibling disputes, and served a meal that more often than not gets a lukewarm response. My kids have become picky eaters, and it's been a wearing several months.

The challenges involved touch so many parenting issues for me:

Compromise: I have yet to find a food that everyone in my family loves. Four people, four very distinct tastes. Factor in the responsibility to make sure everyone is eating healthfully, and I have almost zero chance of pleasing the whole crew at any given meal. Somehow, I have to negotiate a peaceful middle path.
Attitude: I like cooking and I love food, but I loathe drudgery. Planning, shopping, putting away groceries, washing, peeling, chopping, cooking, packing up … too often, it feels like a chore. It doesn't help when the product of my efforts is met with indifference or even a chorus of "ew!' (Sometimes from me too.) When resentment takes hold, it feeds on itself in a vicious cycle. I don't like the way it feels, and I don't want to model that attitude for my kids.
Balance: It's amazing how much time I can spend planning, procuring, and preparing food. And then dinner is over in a flash! I've made strides lately in budgeting my time better, and need to continue to keep myself on a short leash.

Over the next few days, I'll share a few ideas and tools I'm using to try to meet those challenges as gracefully as possible. Some are focused on organization and simplification, others on family roles. Happily, as I sat down to clarify what I need to work on and how, I found that every potential solution to one issue also helped another.

Are you reorganizing your approach for 2012? What do you do to keep yourself sane and happy in the kitchen?

Cooking with Kids: "Snowballs" Winter Soup

2012-01-07T13:12:00.000-08:00

Isn't it nice when something happens at random while you're cooking and leads to a surprising solution? That just happened while we were cooking with kids at school: The original plan was to cut snowflake shapes from slices of baked potatoes, add them to a very colorful vegetable soup, and play with their imagination. But the project of cutting the potatoes with the cookie cutters didn't work: The potatoes were too mushy to allow the neat plan.

So, instead of getting disappointed, I was taken by a very fast experiment that ended up working perfectly: They mashed potatoes with their own hands and made snowballs with them. Roasted cauliflower was cut in thin slices to make the pretend-to-be snowflakes. All was fun when the kids enjoyed throwing the "snowballs" and "snowflakes" into a pot filled with hot soup, also adding some white corn kernels. At the end of the process they were all surprised to see how the snowballs had "melted" into the soup.

The book read to inspire the kids to cook was the adorable Perfect Soup, by Lisa Moser, found in the local library by Carla, a mom and a teacher who volunteers with me in the Cooking Club at school. It's very easy reading for kindergartners and first-graders and has lots to offer to the kids. Something like the gift of sharing. Perfect to begin the new year with a good story and lots of inspiration for a new start (and more vegetables on our plate!).

Snowballs and Soup

By chance we've found that russet potatoes are good to roll the balls. Bake them in the oven or even microwave with the skin, so that the chefs can have extra work. I am still testing firmer potatoes to cut with cookie cutters.

4 cups vegetable or chicken stock (if not homemade go for higher-quality ones from cartons, low-sodium and preferably organic)
2 cups water
1 cup tomato paste or your favorite tomato sauce
Kosher salt to taste
1 cup white corn kernels
3 baked russet potatoes, mashed with hands and shaped into "snowballs"
2 cups roasted cauliflower florets (with garlic powder and salt)
Parsley or cilantro leaves (to dress it up)
Japanese "snowflake" shape rice crackers (optional)

Heat vegetable broth and water and simmer while preparing the other ingredients. Mix in tomato paste, salt, corn, potato snowballs, and cauliflower. Continue to simmer for about 10 minutes.

Serve in a bowl and top it with cilantro and add rice crackers to add some crunch.

Persimmon Compote

2011-12-27T15:46:00.000-08:00

It's been a very sweet holiday season in my home, with a cross-country cookie exchange, experimental fudge recipes (mixed results), and our first attempts at caramel squares and turtles (both wildly successful). I make no apologies for the astonishing amount of sugar we consumed: we enjoyed every bite. And I didn't feel at all guilty ignoring the fruit bowl overflowing with gorgeous persimmons, generously shared by a friend ... until yesterday. Then I felt guilty. Very guilty.

After polishing off the last of the leftover Christmas cake, I was ready to give the persimmons the attention they so richly deserve. I chopped them up and simmered them with honey, spices, and a burst of fresh lemon. After the mixture cooled a bit, I spooned some into a cup of Greek yogurt and topped it with dates. I'm happy to report it tastes like Christmas, without the collateral nutritional damage.

I'll devour this batch with nonfat Greek yogurt for protein-rich, guilt-free breakfasts, but it would be equally fabulous stirred into piping-hot oatmeal. If you're not ready to turn your back on sweets yet, pour some over a scoop of vanilla ice cream or frozen yogurt. I imagine a shot of candied ginger would be spectacular, but I left out in deference to my dear but ginger-loathing husband.

Persimmon Compote

This makes a generous cup of soft, sweetly spiced fruit perfect for stirring into yogurt or hot cereal or pouring over waffles or ice cream. It keeps up to a week in the fridge and freezes well.

4 persimmons, peeled and chopped
2 tablespoons water
2 tablespoons honey
A tiny splash of cider vinegar (optional)
1/4 teaspoon each of cinnamon, cloves, and ginger
Pinch of cardamom
2 teaspoons cornstarch
Squeeze of lemon

In a small saucepan, combine chopped persimmons, 2 tablespoons water, honey, and cider vinegar, if using. Bring to a boil over medium heat (about 4 to 5 minutes). Reduce heat to medium-low, add spices, and simmer for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.

In a small bowl, combine cornstarch and remaining two tablespoons of water. Add to fruit in pan and stir until thickened. Finish with a squeeze of fresh lemon. Remove from heat and cool before storing in refrigerator.

Healthy Holidays: Oven-Baked Purple Latkes

2011-12-22T11:29:00.000-08:00

Every year, when it gets close to Hanukkah, I start fretting over frying. As tradition demands, hot oil is the most important reminder of the miracle of Hanukkah. And what a wonderful excuse to indulge in sufganiots (donuts) and latkes (potato pancakes). Eating them, I mean. But not preparing them...

My personal belief as a cook is that deep-frying is exactly what I don't aim for, and many times I substituted the process by a little trick, called baking and broiling. This has been the case for some recipes already tested here with success such as mini kibbeh, made possible because of this little kitchen miracle, the oil mister.

So, if celebrating the eight nights of Hanukkah — we are today lighting the third candle — this is a very tasty bite. It might be the ideal company for soup, for good conversation with friends, or just a cause for celebration. Happy healthy Hannukah!

Oven-Baked Purple Latkes

After reading many recipes and ideas on preparing potatoes for latkes, I came across this very good one: Use a salad spinner to get rid of water and starch from the potatoes. That will guarantee the crunchiness of the final product.

8 medium purple potatoes (or 4 large ones), grated (no need to peel if they are organic), or about 4 cups grated potatoes
1/2 purple onion, grated
3 free-range eggs, lightly beaten
1/2 cup matzoh meal or flour, add more if mix is runny
Kosher salt to taste
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
White pepper, ground
Extra-virgin olive oil spray, or in a mister

Grate potatoes, transfer to a salad spinner, and spin about 6 times to get rid of the water and starch from the potato.

Preheat oven to 400 F. Line two baking sheets with heavy aluminum foil. Let potatoes drain for about 15 minutes in the salad spinner basket while the oven gets hot.

Beat eggs and matzo meal and add to the potatoes in a bowl, and then add grated onions. Sprinkle with salt, garlic powder, and freshly ground white pepper. If you feel the mix is too runny, add more matzo meal or flour: You want to get a fluffy moist mix, not runny but not dry.

Spray olive oil on the foil-lined sheet. With a soup spoon, splash latkes over the sheet, leaving a 1/4-inch space between each.

Bake for 20 minutes on the top rack of oven. Broil for two minutes. Serve hot with your favorite recipe for applesauce.

Healthy Holidays: Marshmallow Cake Towers

2011-12-18T22:48:00.000-08:00

Mmm, time to bring on some dessert! We're feasting on gingerbread cutouts and chocolatey goodness in my home, but it can sometimes feel like a bit too much.

These elegant little stacks of marshmallow, fruit, preserves, and cake can be fat-free if you use angel food cake. Making marshmallows is certainly a project, but it can be a blast with kids home on holiday break. Cut up the leftovers to enjoy in hot chocolate, stirred with a candy cane.

The instructions are lengthy, but don't be intimidated: Making marshmallows is easier than it might appear, provided you have a stand mixer and a candy thermometer.

And the marshmallows alone make great holiday gifts for friends and neighbors.

Marshmallow Cake Towers

This marshmallow recipe is adapted from Smitten Kitchen. The marshmallows need to be made at least a few hours ahead; leftover marshmallows can be stored in an airtight container for a few days.

For marshmallows:
canola oil
1/2 cup confectioners sugar, divided
3 1/2 envelopes unflavored gelatin (such as Knox)
1 cup cold water, divided in half
2 cups sugar
1/2 cup light corn syrup
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 egg whites
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1/4 cup cornstarch

For cakes:
9x13 yellow cake, baked and cooled (use your favorite recipe, from scratch or a box—substitute angel food cake for a fat-free version)
1/2 cup fruit preserves (any flavor -- I used cherry)
fresh fruit, chopped, for garnish (I used mango, strawberry, and kumquat)

To make marshmallows:
Lightly oil the bottom and sides of a 9x13 pan and dust with 1/4 cup confectioners sugar, shaking out excess. In the bowl for your mixer, pour in 1/2 cup of cold water and sprinkle gelatin on top. Let it sit so the gelatin softens and blooms, about 15 minutes.

In a small saucepan, combine remaining 1/2 cup of water, sugar, corn syrup, and salt. Clip a candy thermometer to the side. Stir over low heat until the sugar is dissolved. Increase the heat to medium heat and bring to a boil, without stirring, until it reaches 240°F (this can take 10-15 minutes). Take the pan off the heat. Carefully pour the sugar mixture over the gelatin in the mixer bowl and stir to dissolve the gelatin. Using the mixer, beat on high speed until the mixture is white, thick, and about tripled in volume (about 6-8 minutes).

In a separate bowl, with clean beaters, beat egg whites until they hold stiff peals. Beat whites and vanilla extract into the sugar mixture until combined. Pour the mixture into the prepared pan. Combine remaining 1/4 cup confectioners sugar and cornstarch and sift over the top. Set it in the refrigerator, uncovered, for at least three hours and up to one day. Once the marshmallow has set, you can remove it from the pan by loosening the edges with a thin knife and peeling the marshmallow block out, or inverting the pan.

To assemble cakes:
Level the cake. Use a cookie cutter (round, square, or diamond work well) to cut out cake pieces. Clean and dry the cookie cutter, dip it into confectioners sugar, and use it to cut out identical marshmallow pieces. Spread fruit preserves on top of each piece of cake. Place marshmallow cutouts on top of preserves, then top with fruit.

Healthy Holidays: Jewel Fruit Salad

2011-12-18T10:40:00.000-08:00

This is one of my favorite desserts ever: It was created by Darienne as a happy accident that came together on a day when nothing else was going smoothly.

So, after realizing that she would have people over but had nothing ready to serve, she improvised some impromptu snack that turned out to be a huge success: She sliced up persimmons and apples, pulled apart a pomegranate, and chopped up some dates. The dressing came together quickly, and the final touch was cinnamon and some fresh basil.

I keep using this recipe for lots of different fruit salads: Pomegranate is a huge success as it adds flavor and crunchiness. I already prepared that with organic chopped Fuji apples, dried figs, strawberries and added fresh grapefruit for a nice finish on the dressing.

Jewel Salad

Pears are a nice substitute for the apples. For tips on using fresh pomegranate, check out this post.

arils from 1/2 a pomegranate

2-3 Fuyu persimmons, peeled and sliced

2 apples, cored, peeled, and sliced

4 dates, pitted and chopped

juice of 1/2 a lemon

water

Dressing:

juice of 1/2 a large orange (about 2 ounces)

2 tablespoons cider vinegar

1 tablespoons honey

1/8 teaspoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon chopped fresh basil (optional)

Combine the lemon juice and two cups of water in a small bowl. Add the apple slices and let sit for 10 minutes (this helps prevent browning), then rinse and drain well.

Set out apple slices, persimmon slices, pomegranate, and dates in separate bowls.

In a small bowl, combine dressing ingredients and whisk until blended. Pour dressing into a cream pitcher or measuring cup to make it easy to pour.

Children can spoon fruit into their bowls and pour dressing over it.

If you're making this without the help of little hands, just combine all the fruit in a large bowl, add dressing to taste, and stir to combine.

Healthy Holidays: "Gift" Wrapped Fish

2011-12-17T10:56:00.000-08:00

Here we are with our suggested third course for a light and elegant holiday dinner. If, like me, you are looking for a very easy going dish - and even impressive- to entertain your friends and family, this might be it.

Since we published this recipe we had some good feedback, and, of course, you can easily adapt this to seasonal ingredients or different fish. Last time I prepared something inspired in this recipe, I used fig leaves and halibut, something really like a recipe from one of my favorite Alice Waters's book.

Enjoy!

And don't miss it: tomorrow we will have a brand new recipe from our oven to make a surprising fourth course!

Pacific Rockfish en Papillote

Any white meat fish will do well for this recipe, as far as it is one chosen from the list available online from Seafood Watch. I always carry my pocket guide everywhere so not to be doubtful of what to do when shopping.

1 medium zucchini, thinly sliced

4 fingerling potatoes, thinly sliced

4 rockfish fillets

4 slices portabella mushroom

1/4 tomato, cut in halves

Spring onion, cut in long sticks

Kosher or sea salt to taste

Freshly ground black pepper to taste

Olive oil to drizzle over layers or Earth Balance vegetable spread, softened

Preheat oven to 400 F. Cut parchment paper in 4 equal parts, enough to wrap the fish towers. Layer 6 circles of zucchini on the bottom, topped with 4 slices of potatoes, and then fish. Finish with slice of portabella, tomato half-moon, and spring onion. Season each layer with a bit of salt and pepper and drizzle olive oil. Fold and close parcels loosely. Bake for 15- 20 minutes, depending on how you like your fish done.

Healthy Holidays: Chestnut Sage Soup

2011-12-16T05:00:00.000-08:00

If you're looking for the perfect side dish for your holiday table, this is it.

I love the delicacy of this soup, the mix of savory and sweet, the smoky bacon. I don't love the prep work, however: It will be a lot easier to make if you use vacuum-packed, ready-to-go chestnuts. Peeling hot chestnuts is tough work, and certainly not the kind of work I want to be stuck doing amid holiday celebrating. If you go the fresh route, consider peeling the chestnuts ahead of time and stashing them in the freezer.

Chestnut Sage Soup

Adapted from Jerry Traunfeld, The Herbal Kitchen

If you don’t buy peeled chestnuts, I recommend peeling them in advance and freezing them until needed. The diced bacon also can be cooked ahead of time, to save on-the-spot prep.

1 pound chestnuts, fresh in their shells, or 1/2 pound dried chestnuts, or two 7-ounce jars vacuum-packed peeled chestnuts
1 medium onion, chopped
1 ½ cups celery, sliced
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
4 cups vegetable broth
¾ cup apple cider or apple juice
¼ cup coarsely chopped fresh sage leaves
1 bunch thyme sprigs, tied with string
2 bay leaves
¼ teaspoon vanilla extract
½ cup half & half
¼ cup sherry, dry or medium-dry
dash kosher salt
dash ground pepper
2 ounces bacon or pancetta, diced
1 tablespoon sage leaves, chopped
½ apple, unpeeled, cored and diced

If using fresh chestnuts, bring a saucepan of water to a boil. Carefully cut the chestnuts in half with a sharp knife and put them in the freezer for 10 minutes. Add the chestnuts to the boiling water; boil for 8 minutes, then drain. Squeeze each half to pop out the meat, along with the dark brown pellicle surrounding it. This is much easier to do while the chestnuts are hot; you might want to do this in batches.

If using dried chestnuts, bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add the chestnuts and simmer 10 minutes, then remove from heat and let soak for an hour.

Vacuum-packed chestnuts can be used straight from the jar.

To make the soup: Cook the onion, celery and 1/4 cup coarsely chopped sage leaves in a large saucepan over medium heat, stirring frequently, until onion and celery are soft, about 5 minutes. Stir in all but 1/2 cup of the chestnuts along with the broth, cider, thyme, and bay leaves. Cover and simmer over very low heat for 45 minutes. Remove and discard the thyme and bay leaves; stir in vanilla.

Purée the soup in batches (an immersion blender is great for this) until very smooth. Stir in cream and sherry, and reheat to simmering. Add salt and pepper as needed.

Cook the bacon in a medium skillet — don’t let it get crisp. Drain excess fat, then add in the reserved chestnuts and cook another minute. Stir in apple and cook until warmed through.

Spoon soup into bowls, topping each with the apple-chestnut garnish.

Healthy Holidays: Happy Spinach Salad

2011-12-15T10:30:00.000-08:00

We want to celebrate the holidays with a 6-course menu with recipes from our repertoire with a holiday twist.

From today up to next week we will post our favorite choices and some new ones to welcome a very healthy New Year!

For our first course we chose this simple yet amazing Strawberry Spinach Salad. The colors are very holiday-ish, you can even decorate it as a Christmas tree. And if you are not close to any fresh strawberry as we are, here in California, you can substitute for fresh kiwis, figs or ripe yellow peaches.

Baby Spinach Salad with Black and Red Dressing

You can choose different ingredients for the main salad. I've combined it with rocket and once used basil instead of spring onions. Kids might want to join you on the presentation, which can be really cool.

Salad:

4 cups fresh baby spinach

1 sliced medium strawberry for each plate

Dressing:

1 ripe strawberry, diced in tiny pieces

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar

1 spring onion, finely chopped

1/3 cup apple juice or lemonade

Kosher salt to taste

Mix all ingredients for the dressing at least one hour before serving. Organize each plate with a bed of spinach and slices of strawberry. Serve with the dressing on the side or pour over the salad, leaving the guest to redesign the plate. Enjoy!

Agave Gingerbread People

2011-12-09T12:09:00.000-08:00

This year's gingerbread people coming from the oven are molasses-free and also vegan. Hmmm, and they are .... yummy! This is a twist to traditional recipes for the holidays so that everybody — even the egg- and dairy-intolerant people, or the ones who don't like molasses taste (like me) — can have a bite to celebrate the season.

Agave Gingerbread People

Agave is a cactus originally from Mexico. Its syrup, or nectar, is deliciously sweet, and became popular lately as a alternative sweetener due to its low glycemic index.

1/3 canola oil
1/2 cup brown turbinado sugar
1/4 cup amber agave nectar
1/4 cup vanilla almond milk
3 cups King Arthur's white whole wheat flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup crystallized ginger
1/4 spoon ground allspice
1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom seeds
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

Mix oil, sugar, and agave nectar with almond milk. Add ginger. Sift in flour with baking powder, baking soda, salt, and spices. Knead or mix with a paddle attachment of a stand mixer until it forms a smooth dough. Pat it into a disc and cover with plastic wrap, then let it rest in the fridge for at least one hour.

Preheat oven to 350 F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone mat. Take the dough from fridge, set it on the prepare sheet, and roll it out to a 1/4 inch-thickness. Cut cookies with cutters and remove dough around the cut-outs — this way you don't have to transfer them to the sheet and risk breaking them,

Bake for about 15 minutes. Let them cool down before decorating.

Chocolate Chai Pudding

2011-11-30T05:00:00.000-08:00

Confession: I hadn't even heard of cornstarch pudding until a few weeks ago. And now I'm obsessed with it. It's easy and versatile, adaptable to dietary needs and whims: Make it with cream, whole milk, or skim milk, or dairy-free substitutes including soy and rice milk. You don't need much sugar, and butter and eggs are strictly optional. Where has this been all my life?!

I have my friend Heather to thank. She pointed me to an online recipe from The Joy of Cooking (I may be the only food blogger in the world who doesn't have that cookbook), and mentioned she likes to prepare it with chai mix.

Yum.

I couldn't decide if I wanted to make chocolate or chai pudding, so I tinkered with both. My kids don't like the chai infusion, so it's more of a treat for me. And I'm OK with that: From the run-up to Halloween through the end of the year, much of our family life seems to revolve around kid-oriented seasonal delights, edible and otherwise, and so I savored this simple pudding for myself. They'll get their vanilla and chocolate versions for now, but someday I suspect a warm dish of subtly spiced chocolate pudding will taste like home.

If a child hasn't sneakily devoured all the sweets in your baking pantry, as seems to have happened in my house, you could swap semisweet or dark chocolate for the cocoa powder (be sure to cut back the sugar a bit to compensate). Anna suggested the perfect topping: the Best Spiced Nuts. These also would be delicious with a dollop of whipped cream or a sprinkling of chopped toffee.

Chocolate Chai Pudding

Use whatever kind of milk you like. (Soy goes especially well with chai and yields the rich-looking pudding pictured at the top, but dairy versions are creamier.) You may want to adjust the amount of sugar to suit your taste. If you're feeling really indulgent, stir in a bit of softened butter at the end.

This makes 6 servings — dish them out in tea cups for maximum cuteness.

3 cups milk, divided
2 chai tea bags
1/3 cup sugar
3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa
pinch of salt
3 tablespoons cornstarch

In a saucepan, warm 2 1/2 cups milk over medium heat until steaming. Remove from heat, add tea bags, cover, and let steep for 5 minutes. Remove tea bags.

Add sugar, salt, and cocoa to chai milk and reheat over medium heat. In a small bowl, stir together cornstarch and remaining 1/2 cup milk until smooth. When the chai milk mixture begins to steam, stir in cornstarch mixture. Continue stirring about 5 to 7 minutes until mixture just comes to a boil. Reduce heat to low and continue to stir until pudding is thickened, about 5 minutes.

Spoon pudding into serving dishes. Serve warm or chill for up to a day.

Playdate Special: Be Bim Bop

2011-11-20T11:38:00.000-08:00

Have you ever thought about rice? It's present in almost every cuisine of the world, and is the main ingredient for many delicious meals. That's why it was chosen to represent the sense of unity of most cultures at my kid's school cooking club's classes. So the first dish to be prepared at the Cooking Club this year was a colorful dish from Korea, Bi Bim Bop.

I first fell in love with this idea when I saw a kid's book in my local library, called Bee-Bim Bop!, by Linda Sue Park, illustrated by Ho Baek Lee, few years ago. Later I had the chance of trying some of the original plate in a Korean bowl place in Palo Alto.

The book is amazing — so cute and so full of rhymes that it turns the task of preparing the dish into almost a musical experience. After four rounds of making the dish with kids at school, I finally got to invite our playgroup to make it, this time using beef instead of tofu.

The key element to get the school kids and our playgroup involved was reading the book before cooking, and getting them used to the idea of "chop chop chop," as in the book, with a safe (plastic) knife. Then, the process used with the school kids: While kids at one table were prepping the vegetables, kids at another table were cutting tofu and preparing the marinade. The third table's kids were working with the eggs for the egg pancakes.

The final result was amazing and put together the work of every kid: after watching us cook the veggies and tofu on the griddle, they all had a colorful bowl full of rice to be mixed. For many kids it was the first time to try some different vegetables, tofu, and soy sauce. And some of them were just following what the book suggested — mix mix mix — and eat!

Be Bim Bop

Any rice will do a great job here. If choosing beef, put the fresh steak in the freezer for about 15 minutes to help with the slicing. This recipe is adapted from Linda Sue Park's and also has some inspiration from recipes around the Web. If you are really daring to try something else, you can add a recipe of kimchi (as in this good recipe here).

Cooked rice
1 English cucumber, peeled
2 carrots, sliced
1/2 pound aduki bean sprouts or alfalfa
4 medium shitake mushroom (optional)
4 medium white mushrooms (optional)
2 free-range eggs, lightly beaten
4 cups fresh organic baby spinach, chopped
Extra-firm organic tofu, diced (or 8 oz. sirloin steak, finely sliced)

Marinade for tofu or beef:
6 tablespoons reduced-sodium soy sauce
2 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons oil
Sesame seeds (optional)
4 drops sesame oil (optional)
2 stalks spring onions (scallions)

Preheat electric griddle to 370F. (You also can use a large skillet, over medium-high heat.) Chop the vegetables and set aside, each in a different bowl. Mix ingredients for the marinade in another bowl. Add the tofu or beef to the marinade.

Beat the eggs lightly and prepare mini-egg pancakes in the griddle. When done, set them aside on a plate to cool down. Add carrots and tofu (or beef) to the griddle and keep an eye on them, turning periodically.

Cut egg pancakes into half-inch strips and set aside on a plate. Now add mushrooms, bean sprouts, and spinach to the griddle, keeping them separated. At the last minute add cucumber. When the carrots are cooked but still al dente, start removing vegetables, transferring each type to its own bowl. Removed the beef or tofu from the griddle.

Serve all ingredients over a bowl of rice, to be mixed by the person being served.

Spiced Fruit Crisps

2011-11-09T21:11:00.001-08:00

We're snacking happily on these simple fruit crisps, dried in the oven until crunchy. I've seen a lot of versions that add sugar, honey, or maple syrup, but really there's no need to add sweetening: These apple and pear crisps are delicious on their own, and a sprinkling of spices or vanilla bean makes them an irresistible treat.

Isn't that sunset blush color gorgeous? These are Pink Pearl apples, a beautiful tart variety. My favorite stop at the market these days is a stand overflowing with countless varieties of apples and pears. The farmer is generous with samples, and the kids love to taste-test — we usually leave with at least a half-dozen varieties.

Spiced Fruit Crisps

Use organic fruit, if possible. I get three to four baking pans' worth of crisps from 1 1/2 pounds of fruit.

apples or slightly firm pears
fresh lemon juice
water
ground spices, such as cardamom, cinnamon, allspice, or ginger

Wash, core, and slice fruit 1/8-inch thick (a mandoline makes quick work of this). Fill a bowl with water, add lemon juice, and soak fruit slices for 10 minutes.

Prepare baking pans with silicon mats or parchment paper. Drain slices and lay out in a single layer on prepared pans.

Sprinkle with your favorite spices. Bake at 225 degrees for 2 to 3 1/2 hours until dry. Watch carefully after the first two hours to avoid browning.

They should be fairly dry to the touch but still a little pliable when done — they'll become crisp within a few minutes after removing them from the oven. (If they don't crisp quickly, return them to the oven for a few more minutes.) Once cool, store in an air-tight container.

Variation: For vanilla crisps, drain fruit and return to bowl. Split and scrape a vanilla bean over the slices and very gently mix in before baking.

Succotash in Squash

2011-10-31T10:41:00.000-07:00

The sight of those beautiful acorn and carnival squashes inspired me to think about something beyond sugar and cinnamon treats. It made me think about something good to be served not just for a Halloween dinner, but also good for Thanksgiving menu.

And then everything came to make sense: a Native North American classic inside a deliciously edible seasonal container.

One of my kids was not happy when he saw the "dead" acorn squash, halved and cooked, in front of him — it used to be one of his favorite good-looking squashes in his "pumpkin patch" on the rug. But soon he was convinced that the squash's fate was good, and ate all of his succotash.

As you might know, succotash can be interpreted in many ways as long as corn and white beans are included to the recipe. I mainly played with seasonings to enhance the sweetness of the corn and squash while adding a bit of a European flavor with thyme and shallots.

Succotash in Squash

Bake the squash while preparing the beans. It's a good idea to bake a whole batch of squash and sugar pumpkin to use in other recipes and freeze for later.

1 carnival squash, halved and de-seeded
1 acorn squash, halved and de-seeded
1/2 pound lima or cannellini beans, soaked overnight and cooked al dente in salty water
1/2 pound yellow corn kernels, cooked
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
4 bay leaves
1 medium shallot, diced
4 garlic cloves, smashed
1/2 cup cooked sugar pumpkin
1/2 cup tomato sauce
2 teaspoons thyme
kosher salt to taste
cayenne pepper, to taste
poppy seeds, to sprinkle over the top of each squash

Bake squash halves, face-down in a baking pan with a half-inch of water, at 375 F for about one hour. You want them firm, so check after 45 minutes to see if they're ready — avoid overcooking.

While squashes are in the oven, prepare the filling. Shallow-fry shallots and garlic in olive oil over medium heat. Add thyme and tomato sauce and simmer for 10 minutes. Then add beans and sugar pumpkin and stir. Add salt to taste, and simmer for about 20 minutes. Serve beans inside the baked squash. Happy eating!

Ghosts and Bats Beans

2011-10-30T05:00:00.000-07:00

Yvonne came up with this simple dish as part of a Halloween snack: Add seasonings to canned beans, stir and serve. Done!

White kidney beans are the "ghosts" and black beans are the "bats" — a spooky, savory, and nutritious treat. It's an easy way to round out a Halloween dinner or buffet table, and stores well, a great make-ahead choice for lunch boxes or kid parties. (She served it up with yesterday's muffins and clementine "pumpkins" — try decorating them as jack o'lanterns!)

Ghosts and Bats Beans

2 15-ounce cans blacks beans, rinsed and drained
2 15-ounce cans white kidney beans, rinsed and drained
3 tablespoons olive oil
2 teaspoons garlic powder
1 1/2 teaspoons salt

Combine all ingredients and serve.

Spooky Bananas

2011-10-29T05:00:00.000-07:00

Have you tried magic writing on bananas yet? This is a perfect time to try it. Using a toothpick, gently write your message on the banana peel. Within an hour, the letters will grow dark and clear. To "color in" a drawing, use a blunt toothpick or another dull tool to press on the peel, without breaking the surface.

It's a great surprise for the fruit bowl or the lunchbox — kids love it!