American Melting Pot: Headed Toward the New Year with a Little New Orleans

 

The worst part about this pandemic has been...well, you could start this sentence multiple ways and still be spot on, couldn't you?  This past year, we had several trips planned to some really cool places:  

Spring break in Florida, with trips to Disney World and Universal on the agenda.  When I was planning the trip, which took forever, by the way, because we had to work around sports and academic schedules and work-related hiccups, and more things to name just to get away, we actually got a Fast Pass for every major ride in the parks, including the Avatar ride, the new Star Wars rides and several other impossible ones.  Had to cancel the entire trip.  I actually burst into tears after cancelling the perfect fast passes (the Disney people will understand - you never get everything you want, and this time I did, and had to wipe out the entire thing.  SIGH)  Thanks, Covid!

We were going to a Niall Horan concert in Columbus in May, where we had scored floor seats to see The Peanut's all time favorite music crush.  We were right by the aisle stage that he would walk by to get to the center stage in the stadium, and Niall would be close enough to almost touch but definitely close enough to make eye contact with, except...tour cancelled -- thanks, Covid!  

During the summer, The Peanut and I were going to Europe on a whirlwind grand tour of London, Paris and Rome, with a school tour group that included a special extended tour at the Vatican for Catholic schools that I was particularly excited about...until it was cancelled, due to Covid.  

Mr. Smith had gotten me a particularly awesome Mother's Day gift -- tickets to see Sting in in Law Vegas at Caesar's Palace, with a backstage pass to actually meet Sting in person.   (OMG!!  I Know!  I nearly exploded with joy on the spot.  Sting!  Holy cow!)  

Did that happen?  Nope.  Cancelled due to Covid.

You see where this is going, don't you?

The funny thing is that we haven't been big on planning travel the last few years, because The Peanut's sports practice schedule tends to be year round and our planning for any trip has thus tended to be spur of the moment.  We've also been saving for college and retirement and not particularly huge spenders on luxury travel and events.  Not last year.  Last year we were going big.  It was our last shot at big travel with The Peanut before college takes over her schedule next year, and we thought we'd add in a lot of fun things.  Last year, we decided you can't take it with you and let's have a great summer before her senior year in high school.  

Covid had other ideas.

After months of trying to be super careful, gallons of hand sanitizer, always wearing my mask, and staying home whenever possible, I am jonesing for some travel.  For some reason, as we edge toward ringing in the new year, New Orleans is calling my name.  

Couldn't we all use a little more laissez le bon temps rouler in our day to day weary trudge at this point in the pandemic?  

More than anything, I'd like to be strolling in the humid heat down by the delta of the Mississippi River, brushing off some powdered sugar from a fresh plate of beignets and a large cup of chicory-laced cafe au lait at Cafe du Monde.  Or planning a meal at Arnaud's, in the heart of the French Quarter, with a stop at their fabulous French 75 bar for a cocktail or three before dinner.  

American Melting Pot: Pasta e Fagioli

Big Night, starring Stanley Tucci and Tony Shaloub


One of the things that this pandemic quarantine has taught me is how much food waste we had become accustomed to and not noticed in our day to day rush to get from one sports practice and school event to another.  Being forced to slow down our perpetual motion lifestyle at the same time we are trying to minimize our trips out to the store has resulted in some creative recipe overhauls.

During the school year, our slow cooker gets a lot of use.  For ease, you can't beat being able to toss ingredients in the slow cooker first thing in the morning, rush out the door to work, run to a sports practice, and walk in the door to a fully cooked, delicious meal.  It's a lifesaver for me, and something I've been using with a lot of success for years -- all the way back to my hectic legal trial practice days, when we likely would not have eaten anything other than drive-thru crapola otherwise.

Last night, after doing a short inventory of what we had in the produce drawers in our fridge, I realized we had several bits and pieces that needed to be used up before we lost them.  Let's play pandemic fridge remnant bingo, shall we?

Since we've been shopping as infrequently as possible to minimize contacts, I find that once every couple of weeks we have to do an inventory to round up the assorted random bits and pieces, and then I play a game called "what in the world can I make with this?"  Sometimes, I just type in ingredients in the New York Times cooking website and see if I find something that sounds yummy, but more often than not I'm rummaging around my cookbook collection or trying to get creative in a less scary version of Pandemic Chopped.

Usually, it means I'm tossing together some sort of soup or stew, where I can get my vegetable hating family to eat their veggies and love every minute of it.  My people will eat anything that includes either Tex-Mex spices or Italian flavors, and you'd be amazed how many veggies you can cram in a single soup or stew with the right amount of crushed tomatoes poured in to hide them.

Seriously.  Not kidding.

Today's entry in the America's Melting Pot recipes is a hybrid of two wonderful recipes in one of my favorite all-time cookbooks:  Marcella Hazan's Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking.

Great Books For The Foodie In Your Life

Sifting through the dross to find a great gift for the foodie in your life can be tough. Especially considering how much amped up "celebrity chef" marketing goes on this time of year.

For me?  A foodie book -- whether it is a book of essays on recipes or travel and dining or essays about the intersection of family, home and food or a combination of all of the above -- has to occasionally make me laugh out loud, it has to make me think about things from a new or renewed perspective, and it must be written well.  Sloppy or dull writing ruins the entire experience for me, and those sorts of books tend to get weeded out of my shelves pretty quickly.

If you have a loved one who enjoys a good, snarky laugh and who has more than a passing familiarity with the finer points of cuisine, Elizabeth David is a wonderful choice.  Her book of essays An Omelette And A Glass Of Wine is well worth reading -- preferably slowly and curled up in a cozy chair with a glass of chateauneuf de pape.

For a more recent take on Elizabeth David, brought vividly to life with superb photographs, take a peek at the sumptuous At Elizabeth David's Table. The photographs are so delicious, you can almost smell the spices wafting off the pages. But it is the simplicity and genius of the recipes therein that will keep you coming back for more. The book is gorgeous, and would be lovely as a coffee table display, but it is one that will be well worth splattering in the kitchen for generations to come -- it is that good.

In terms of home comforts, reading Laurie Colwin's Home Cooking and More Home Cooking is like hanging out with your best friend for the best relaxing retreat you can imagine. Her writing is amazing, but it is how she imbues it with her own inner light that calls you back time and time again -- brilliant stuff.  I took these books with me through a number of my testing and biopsy days the last few months because it truly was as though I were bringing my best friends along to hold my hand -- how often can you say that a book gives you both insight and comfort? 

I cannot express enough how wonderful these books are, and how well Colwin's gentle spirit shines through them to embrace the reader in a gentle spirit of comfort and joy.

CH-CH-CH-CH-Changes

Right after a cancer diagnosis, everything gets a little garbled in your brain because sentences and thoughts -- even random, wholly unconnected to this in any way thoughts -- often seem to end with "Uh.  Mah.  Gawd.  I.  Have.  Cancer." for at least a few days if not weeks.  At least, that's how it has worked for me thus far, and I'm told by friends who have gone through similar battles that was true for them as well.

For me, though?  When I'm facing any daunting challenge, the thing I crave most is to know every possible thing about the oncoming hurdle so that when I have to face it, I have pinpointed several avenues of weakness and am more prepared than anyone else in the room to discuss my options and possibilities.  This is, not coincidentally, how I approached my legal practice when I had a hearing -- I knew every possible nuance and all the case law, every argument for or against every issue that I could identify as having any possibility of being raised before I ever entered a courtroom for a hearing...and I had figured out a way to crush each and every one of them before I ever stepped forward for an argument.  Exhaustive but highly effective.

All this to say, I have now entered the research phase of my diagnosis with a vengeance.

Some books and websites I've been reading include:

-- The American Institute for Cancer Research (AICR), which has a fantastic database of recipes available for the searching online.

-- The Cancer-Fighting Kitchen: Nourishing, Big-Flavor Recipes for Cancer Treatment and Recovery by Rebecca Katz

-- One Bite at a Time, Revised: Nourishing Recipes for Cancer Survivors and Their Friends by Rebecca Katz

-- The Anti-Cancer Cookbook by Julia Greer

-- Crazy Sexy Cancer Tips by Kris Carr

Of all of these, the Rebecca Katz books have been a revelation in terms of healthy eating combined with a gourmet sense of taste and flavor -- maximizing both healthy ingredients along with nurturing the pleasure of eating really good food.  And I've also realized this:  all the healthy eating we'd been trying to incorporate from Clean Eating and Eating For Life and South Beach and Sonoma and all the other diet plans that focus on whole foods and lots of fruits and veggies and a reduction of processed crap?

It's all really good and what we ought to be doing, every single meal, every single day.

So it's well past time to pull myself out of my stress eating crapola stupor and to move forward even faster with my "eat better, live better, feel better" plan for the rest of my life.  I'm going to start sharing healthy recipes here more often as I tweak them for my family and find that they work well -- if my veggie-tolerating-but-just-barely-sometimes hubby and my picky eater child can be coaxed into being healthier along with me, then you know yours can be, too.

Here's a thumbnail sketch of what I've found out thus far:

Simply Divine: At Elizabeth David's Table

Is there anything better than heading out to the mailbox only to find that a book you've been anticipating with near fervent glee has arrived?

That happened to me this morning.

I swear, I walked outside to get the mail, opened the mailbox and let out a loud squeal of joy.  An embarrassingly loud squeal, too, the sort that is usually reserved for 4 year olds who have heard the ice cream man coming from three blocks away and have watched and watched and watched until his truck is finally coming down their block, sweaty dollar clutched in their excited little hand.  That kind of out loud squeal of joy.

The neighbors probably think I've pulled a nutter, but it couldn't be helped.  It flew out of me when I saw the box.

It is all I can do today to get anything else accomplished, I've been holed up every spare second I could find, pouring through the pages of At Elizabeth David's Table: Classic Recipes and Timeless Kitchen Wisdom.

It is heaven.

Am I the only person who reads cookbooks as though they are page-turning thrillers?  I am consumed by reading the recipes and the background travel notes or family anecdotes, and then trying to imagine the taste just by reading the recipe again and "tasting" it in my imagination.

I can lose myself in a good cookbook as surely as I can in good fiction, and I have had a long attachment to Elizabeth David thanks to Laurie Colwin.

Which is kind of a coincidence, actually.  For the last week or so, I've been re-reading through Laurie Colwin's  Home Cooking: A Writer in the Kitchen, mostly because it is comfort in a book for me.

Dinner Tonight? Easy Veggie Stir-Fry

I'm in the mood for some Chinese food this evening.  Which might be inconvenient, given that we are doing very well thus far on the The South Beach Diet Phase 1.

But I've come up with a plan that will satisfy my urge for a Chinese food fix, and still keep us within the parameters of Phase 1 requirements.

Woo hoo!

I've taken a recipe from Bill Phillips' Eating For Life cookbook, which I absolutely love, btw, because it's chock full of easy, healthy recipes that Mr. ReddHedd will happily eat, and tweaked it.

Originally this was the "Sesame Beef Stir-Fry recipe on page 125 -- but I've modified it a wee bit to make it South Beach Phase 1 friendly.  It took only a little bit of tweaking, and I've managed to add a bit more veggies to the mix for color, fiber and antioxidants while still maintaining a healthy profile.

So, here's what we are having for dinner here this evening:

It's Time To Start Clearing The Clutter!

The little hitch in my resolution giddy-up from my leg burn has finally healed enough that I can confidently say this:  it's time to start clearing the clutter at our house.

Today, we start on Phase 1 of the South Beach Diet.

For breakfast, we'll be having a veggie omelet, loaded with peppers, onions, and for Mr. ReddHedd some mushrooms (not for me, though), a little reduced-fat sharp cheddar, and a bit of salsa on top.  Plus a glass of V-8 juice and copious amounts of coffee, no doubt.  Lunch will be a chef's salad, with some cubed leftover chicken, diced ham, sliced boiled egg, chopped cucumber, tomato, celery, and lettuce topped with a homemade Dijon vinaigrette.  And dinner will be turkey burgers and oven-roasted green beans, cherry tomatoes, and onion. 

UPDATE:  Forgot to say that dessert tonight will be 1/2 cup each of part skim ricotta mixed with cocoa powder, a little vanilla, some natural peanut butter, and a couple of packets of Splenda, and topped with a Tbsp. sugar free whipped topping. 

Phase 1 is the most restrictive part of the diet -- it's designed to clear out the excess ick in your system so that your body can start with a clean slate to eat healthier foods.  It's a bit carbohydrate restricted, but unlike Atkins you have to watch saturated fats and only eat leaner meats and veggies -- it's not a bacon free-for-all, in other words.  We'll stick to this for a couple of weeks to clear out all the holiday sugar rush and then will broaden back out to include whole grains, fruits and other healthy carb choices.

And our hope is that this will not be a "diet" for us for a short period of time, but will instead become the way we eat as a lifestyle for the rest of our lives.

We need this.  The Peanut needs to see us do this and, more importantly, she needs to adopt healthier food choices and understand why it is important for her as well.

My plan?  We go from the first couple of weeks of Phase 1 on South Beach to a broader, liveable and far healthier lifestyle and diet.  I'll be pulling recipes and ideas from the following after this first couple of weeks:

-- The Eat-Clean Diet Cookbook: Great-Tasting Recipes That Keep You Lean

-- Eating For Life

-- The New Sonoma Diet: Trimmer Waist, More Energy in Just 10 Days

-- Mediterranean Light: Delicious Recipes from the World's Healthiest Cuisine

-- The Mediterranean Diabetes Cookbook (ADA)

-- The South Beach Diet Quick and Easy Cookbook: 200 Delicious Recipes Ready in 30 Minutes or Less

There are more, but you get the idea: healthy, whole foods, mostly veggies on the plate, leaner meats, and lots of fiber from beans and grains as well.  The way we ought to have been eating all along.

Just Pausing For A Moment To Say...

Just pausing for a moment of gratitude this morning.  Thank you so much for being readers here.

And, further, a huge thank you to everyone who has used the Amazon search link on the sidebar of this blog to purchase any items.  Or used any Amazon links in my posts to purchase any items.

Your purchases over the last few months have enabled me to pick up a couple of books for donation to The Peanut's school library, which were very much appreciated.  Additionally, you've helped to supply my taste in (particularly hard to find here in WV) British tea on at least one occasion which makes sitting and writing a lot more fun for me, and also helped me most recently purchase the The Indian Slow Cooker cookbook I'd been ogling for quite a while.

I promise a review of it will be forthcoming as soon as I've had time to read, cook and digest several of the recipes therein.

Also, I've recently had an offer to review an item of my choice from a company with a fairly diverse internet presence (they have several website from what I've been able to figure out) which makes furniture and other home items, including home bar furniture, rugs and all sorts of organizing goodies, and also cooking and homeware.

Am still trying to decide what, if anything, I'll review -- if there is an item you think looks intriguing, but you'd be reluctant to buy it without someone testing it first, let me know and I'll see what I can do.   My budget isn't huge, though, so keep that in mind.

Cooking Up A Batch Of Primordial Soup

As I was pulling yesterday's Julia Child YouTube, I stumbled across a real gem: Julia discussing "primordial soup" and the origins of life for the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum.  This apparently aired from 1976 until the gallery closed.

Wow, is this a hoot. I had to share it.

Thought I'd share a few links of recent finds and intriguing bits:

-- Love the landscaping on this blog.  I want to move into several of these photos, don't you?

-- Ever wonder about the intersection of food, politics, and rise in obesity?  Marion Nestle has some fascinating insights on this.

-- Speaking of Marion reminds me of one of my favorite cookbooks, written by a friend of hers, Martha Rose Shulman.  If you love good cuisine, and want to eat more healthfully, might I suggest Mediterranean Light: Delicious Recipes from the World's Healthiest Cuisine?

--Say it with me:  "pimp style" is decidedly not hawt.

-- Weight Watchers has apparently upended their points system diet plan.  There is going to be some serious confusion and crabbiness among the masses.  (And Weight Watchers is going to make a mint selling all new books, which is probably part of the point, no pun intended.)  If it leads people to choose real food over processed, that's probably a good thing overall, right?


-- And for your not healthy cuisine munching pleasure?  This one's for Toni:  the polvorones recipe we used yesterday to make cookies with sprinkles on them.  I used to make them like Mexican wedding cake cookies -- with ground nuts in the dough and powdered sugar outside.  But The Peanut doesn't like nuts, so I searched around to find a recipe without them.  This turned out well -- we added a little cinnamon to the dough, too.


So what's catching your eye today?  Do tell...

Slow Cooker Cookbook Reviews

This one is for Molly, who asked in a prior thread for some cookbook recommendations for the slow cooker.

It's present season, you see, and she wanted to know what cookbooks I use alla time with my crockpot.  I'm sure she'd love to hear about your favorites, too!

So, Molly?  Here goes, in no particular order, the cookbooks that I really like at my house:

-- For an easy, basic, get you started variety of cookbook, this one is the gold standard, in my opinion.  Mabel Hoffman is a genius, and was the queen of the crockpot way back when, and her recipes still hold up and then some.  Especially the Old World Sauerbraten (p. 61), Spaghetti Meat Sauce (p. 72), Cranberry Pork Roast (p. 106), Southwest Beef and Pintos (p. 159), Orange-Glazed Ginger Carrots (p. 175), and Shades of Autumn Rice (p. 196), just to name a few.  I love this cookbook: Crockery Cookery.

--If your gift recipient happens to like Italian food (and who doesn't?!?), then this next one may be a perfect fit.  As Michele Scicolone says in her introduction, so many of the best foods she ate in Tuscany were cooked slowly in an earthenware crock -- so why not use a crockpot to make the same magic in your own kitchen without any fuss?  Genius.  Plus, her recipes are divine:  Turkey Meatball and Escarole Soup (p. 45), Turkey Ragu alla Bolognese (p. 62), Risotto with Artichokes (p. 73), Chicken with Rosemary and Garlic (p. 113), Lemon Chicken and Potatoes (p. 117), Osso Bucco with Red Wine (p. 159), and Tuscan-Style Beans (p. 193).  This one is definitely a keeper at our house -- The Italian Slow Cooker.