My husband Peter has a saying: “Whatever you do on the first day of the year, you’ll do the rest of the year.” In the past, my New Year’s Day often included a greasy hangover breakfast and bloody marys. Not necessarily what I want to be eating for the rest of the year.

More recently, I’ve added black-eyed peas into first-of-January plate. Black-eyed peas are a traditional New Year’s Day menu item in the south United States. It’s considered good luck to eat them today, and make a fine hangover cure when prepared with plenty of salt, pork fat, or smoked meat.

Also, like most legumes, they’re packed with fiber and inexpensive too, especially if you start with dry beans. Make a big pot of black-eyed peas and you’re one step toward keeping your financial and diet-related New Year’s resolutions.

Texas Caviar
, Hoppin’ John
, Black-Eyed Peas and Collards – there’s as many recipes for black-eyed peas as there are hangover cures.With so much variety, you can eat them all year long.

Photo credit: Nep

Last night I prepared one of the most gourmet dinners I have prepared in a very long time. It was incredibly fancypants. What’s really wonderful about this highbrow meal is I spent about 10 minutes preparing it and the cost was under $5.

Pizza. Simple, glorious pizza. It was the ingredients that made it fancy. Proscuitto. Arugula. Tapenade. The words sound expensive. This pizza was so fancy, that I’m not even going to give you the amounts of each ingredient. It’s the kind of pizza that a gourmet chef could make by casually tossing ingredients together, adding this and that to her liking.

Damn, it was good.

Pizza with Prosciutto, Arugula and Olive Tapenade

• homemade or prepared pizza dough
• olive oil
• olive tapenade (Trader Joe’s is inexpensive at $2.99 a jar)
• grated mozzerella
• proscuitto
• fresh arugula

Roll pizza dough into desired size and shape. Transfer to pizza stone, cast iron skillet, or baking sheet. Brush entire surface with a light coating of olive oil. Spread a thin layer of tapenade on the dough. Layer additional ingredients as desired, but save some of the parmesan for the top. Cook in 400 degree oven for 20 – 25 minutes or until crust is golden brown.

Sometimes a blogger has to take something back. A few posts ago I wrote about how the best Mexican food could only be found 500 miles south of Portland. Well, that was before I stumbled upon La Tarasca in Centralia, Washington. In my defense, I didn’t write anything about what lies north. Now I am.

La Tarasca is a tiny oasis on Main Street in Centralia, tucked among the vacuum repair shops and abandoned storefronts of this tiny farm community. It’s a family-owned and operated business. Based on reviews in Yelp and Trip Advisor, this tiny cantina has attracted fans from up and down the northwest states.

I ordered the carnitas, which were slow-cooked rather than fried and packed with flavor. Peter had the chili verde, which was bright green and tasted like fresh chilies.

Homemade tortillas, people. It’s all I really have to say, but I’ll go further. The beans and rice were perfect cantina style, served on a big hot plate. While La Tarasca does not serve free chips, they do a tangy, spicy verde salsa to pour over your entree or tortillas and pickled carrots that I ate like they were candy.  For dessert, we tried the flan. A little too thick for my liking, but the flavors of caramelized sugar and creamy custard were a perfect finish.

There are a couple of other reasons to visit Centralia: Olympic Club (the coolest McMenamins yet), antique shopping, historic murals. If you are inclined, you could make La Tarasca your only reason.

Photo credit: J. Zay

Okay, I’m not really the queen of convenience when it comes to food. I usually take the long way around, making recipes from scratch and chopping vegetables instead of buying them pre-cut and packaged. But the older I get, the less time I have to spend long hours in the kitchen. Cooking is a great hobby, but labor-intensive recipes are not always practical.

When I was a kid, every once in a while my mom made Hamburger Helper and my dad always had a box of Rice a Roni in the pantry. With so many kids and so little time, it makes sense now that my parents always had back up boxed food on hand. As an adult, I have my own standby: convenience foods I try to keep stocked and available.

Amy’s Soups – I’ve been eating Amy’s soups for 10 years and I still love them. They’re vegetarian, lower in sodium and fat than other canned soups, and made without preservatives. Last week I added a cooked red potato to a can of minestrone for a very filling lunch. Pair with a green salad or a grilled cheese and you’ll have dinner on the table in less than 15 minutes. Costco sells a box of eight (four Lentil and four Minestrone) for $11.99.

Trader Joe’s Vegetarian Sausage Patties – They taste like real breakfast sausage and they’re WAY healthier. They heat in the microwave in one minutes or in the skillet in five. Skip the drive through and make your own breakfast sandwich. Heat, dice and add to a scramble. You won’t know the difference! They’re a little expensive, by my standards, at $3.49 for a box of six.

Instant miso soup packets – Hot beverages pair nicely with fall and winter, but one can only drink so much coffee and tea. Sometimes, the perfect snack on a cold winter day is a hot cup of soup. You can find dehydrated miso soup at Trader Joe’s, natural food stores, and most Asian markets. The Japanese eat miso soup for breakfast. Try it!

Lara Bars – A nutrition power house packed into a tiny, convenient little bar. The great thing about Lara Bars is they contain zero junk, just nuts and fruit. A Lara Bar, some yogurt and a banana is the perfect grab and go breakfast. Great for hiking and traveling, especially in places where fruit and fiber may not be widely accessible.

Do you have any favorite convenience foods? What do you eat when you need a quick meal or snack?

Photo credit: Super*Junk

I recently returned from a three week trip to this tiny, Central-Eastern European country, original home to my husband Peter, where my parents-in-law live in a communist-relic condo building in the eastern city of Košice.”You mean Czechoslovakia?” many people ask when I explain where I’ve been and why my husband has a slight accent.

No. Slovakia (Slovak Republic, officially) separated from the Czech Republic in 1993. I have to admit that I too wasn’t paying much attention at the time, but have come to learn that Slovaks are quite different from their Czech neighbors. Slovaks have a distinct identity, culture, language, and cuisine. I’ve also learned to love and appreciate many aspects of Slovak cuisine, especially those we can’t find in the US. The following are some of my favorites.

1. Fidorka – The only way to describe this: a magical, round Kit-Kat with more chocolate and different flavored fillings, such as coconut (the best) and hazelnut. Need I say more?
2. Parenica – Parenica is a rolled, smoked cheese, similar to the consistency of mozzarella. By rolled, I mean that it is actually rolled into the shape of a small cinnamon bun. Eating it requires unrolling the cheese and tearing off little pieces. Remember that luscious, soft cylinder in the middle of a cinnamon bun? Think of that, but made of cheese.
3. Pivo (beer) – Think you’re a die-hard ale fan? Only drink porters or IPAs? A visit to Slovakia will convince you otherwise. Pilsner there has a bite to it. It’s tasty, it’s cheaper than coffee, and it’s served in a fancy glass with 1.5″ of foam. One of my favorite brands is Zlatý Bažant.
4. Kapusta  – The direct translation is cabbage, but it also means sauerkraut, which is one of the specialties I always look forward to when I visit. While it’s a main attraction for me, sauerkraut is very commonplace in Slovak households, and most families make their own using the brine method. It is the main ingredient in Kapustnica, a traditional Christmas soup.
5. Bryndza – Like farmer’s cheese, but made from sheep milk, this tangy soft cheese is a Slovak specialty. It makes an appearance in the Slovak national meal, Bryndzové Halušky (thin spaetzel-type dumplings coated generously in bryndza and bacon fat) and can be seen mixed with onions and paprika in a breakfast spread.
6. Orechovník – Some love Makovník (poppyseed), and others prefer Kakaovník (cocoa). I love Orechovník (walnut). This rolled pastry is difficult to make, difficult to describe, and difficult to eat in moderation. My mother-in-law will not let us depart without it.
7. Uhorky – It means cucumbers or pickles. I’m talking specifically about the pickled kind, and even more specifically about the pickled kind my mother and father-in-law make. Crispy, slightly tart, with notes of dill and coriander, these pickles are the only vegetable-like substance one needs in a land of dough and cheese.
8. Borovička – I thought I hated gin, and then I tried borovička. Not to be ruined with tonic. Buck up and drink it straight, preferably after a hike through the High Tatras mountains. Too much might result in making a sport out of sprinting for city buses or ordering chicken at Tesco at 1am. However, the right amount can make you (and everyone else you’re with) very, very hilarious.

If you are interested in Slovakia, Slovaks, and Slovak foods, check out these great blogs:

• American Robotnik
• Slovak Cooking