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.

Dipping In to the Great American Melting Pot

It's funny how so many of our family memories, our ways of coping with stress, heartbreak and tragedy, and every single moment of celebration all revolve around food. At least at our house, whenever things go well or very, very awry, my response begins and ends in the kitchen, making something special for my family to bring us all back together again.  I feel like that is true for a lot of us.

Jonathan Gold got that fundamental truth: food is what knits the family together.

If you haven't watched the brilliant documentary -- City of Gold -- about Gold's work as a food critic at the LA Weekly and the LA Times, you should make the time to fix that right now.  Seriously, I'm not kidding, make time to watch it today.  His quirky, unapologetic love of good food is far away from the Anton Ego critic in Ratatouille, because he genuinely cares about the well-being of the people whose craft of food genius draws him into the restaurants he loves.

I've been thinking a lot about Jonathan Gold's work as I've made meal after meal for my family at home during this pandemic shut down, because I've been seriously contemplating how our food choices knit us together in a giant, patchwork tapestry here in America.

For example:  Why is there such a disconnect between people who love to eat out at a Mexican restaurant and those same people discriminating against hispanic folks in their neighborhood?  How much of our food tastes are cultural remnants, woven into the fibers of our DNA like some ancestral calling card, the nature outside of whatever food nurture you have built up from years of family meals?   How can our love of pure, ethnic goodness in our food choices not translate to a "love thy neighbor" feeling about people who are different from us -- if by "different" you mean skin tone or language, which we celebrate if it is our own or denigrate if it is not far too often these days.

One of the things that I love most about living in small town West Virginia is that because we are small in population but big in heart, we all begin to feel like family.  We care for one another, we reach out, and we check on those who are a little older and frail -- that's an important thing to do in a pandemic, and a lot easier when you already know and like your neighbors.

Thanksgiving Planning, Redux

It occurred to me this morning that planning for a Thanksgiving dinner can be overwhelming when you haven't had to plan things out before.  Especially when it is the first major holiday meal you've ever had to make for your family.

I remember that overwhelmed feeling very well the first year I cooked the bulk of the meal.

What I've learned through the years is that there is no substitute for planning.  And that dishes you can make in advance are your very best friends.

To that end, I thought I'd throw together some links and some information for folks, as well as an idea of how I line out my week on a day by day basis:

-- Here's my cooking schedule for the rest of the week:

Monday:  The Peanut and I will finish decorating and cleaning the house.  I've started cooking 3 days ahead, but that's really too early.  So use this day to get last minute groceries, get the rest of the house fairly clean for guests, and make certain you have plenty of extra napkins and such.  If you are going to the store this week, do it as early in the morning as possible, or as late at night as you can - fewer crowds means a saner shopping experience.

Tuesday:  This is where things start cooking this week.  I'll start by making my turkey stock as early as possible today, that way it can simmer in the crockpot for most of the day and all that glorious flavor develops.  It really and truly is the best turkey stock ever from your crockpot, and your stuffing recipe and gravy-making will thank you for the boost in amazing flavor.

I'll also make Granny's cranberry orange salad, so it has time for the flavors to really meld together (and so I can sneak bites of it for the next two days -- woot!).

I also make an herb butter that gets placed between the skin and the breast of the turkey to baste the meat as the turkey bakes.  To start, place a stick of butter into a ziploc freezer baggie, seal it completely and leave it out on the counter for a while to soften, usually this takes an hour or two.  Then, when the butter is softened, I finely chop the following:  some fresh parsley, thyme, chives, sage and a little but of rosemary.  I add some minced garlic and a little Penzey's poultry seasoning as well.   Open the baggie, pour in the herbs and garlic, then reseal completely; mush it altogether to combine well, then pop the butter baggie into the fridge.  As it cools a bit, try to get all the butter into a "log" so it's pretty much altogether in an easy-to-slice cylinder.  

Are You Ready For Some Football Tailgate Recipes?

At our house, we take our football seriously.  Even more so, as the chef de cuisine of Casa Smith, I take my game day food planning just as seriously.

For me, ease of preparation and taste are the big concerns when I'm planning the weekend sports-watching menu.  That generally ends up meaning two little words:  slow cooker.  Through the years, I have managed to put together some yummy game day munchies that can be mostly done in the crockpot and that frees me up to do what I really want to do -- watch the game.

Pre-made salads, pasta salads and sandwiches can also be great for the same reasons:  ease of preparation and hands-off self-serving during the game for everyone you happen to be feeding.

This weekend, for the kick-off of the Mountaineer football season, I'm thinking a taco bar may be in our future.  I'll brown some ground turkey and onions in a skillet, spice it up, add a bit of salsa and pop it in the slow cooker to allow the flavors to meld together for an hour or two.  While that is cooking, I'll get the toppings and fixings together:  tortilla chips, taco shells, shredded lettuce, shredded cheese, sliced olives, sliced jalapeños, salad fixings, guacamole and salsa.  Then we can decide if we want nachos (chips, cheese, taco meat, fixings), taco salad (large pile of lettuce, meat, cheese and some crushed tortilla chips), or tacos (shredded lettuce, meat and cheese with salsa and guac).

There are a lot of other options, though, several of which can be made healthier with just a few simple substitutions -- lower fat cheeses, more veggies and less bread, leaner meat choices.   Here are some recipes ideas and my tweaks on making them healthier in parenthases beside the links and ideas:

Easy Tailgating, Game Day and Pot Luck Recipes

All hail the slow cooker.  Because when it comes to easy meal prep, my crockpots are my best friends.  That is especially true for game day eating at our house.

It has also been true all the way through my battle with breast cancer:  being able to toss ingredients in the slow cooker in the morning, and come back home to a meal for my family after chemo was incredibly comforting.  Even better was the fact that I usually made enough for leftovers the next day.

But I cannot stand bland food.  Even when I was in the throes of chemo and my taste buds had sworn off pepper in the worst way, I still needed to have some spices in what we were eating.  Bland just does not cut it for me.

That is especially true with slow cooker food that far too often tastes like it was made with a couple of bricks of cream cheese in a blender.  No thank you.  That sort of creamy sauced morass of bland is not for me.

The Peanut likes to quote Remy from Ratatouille, and says that I get "fancy with the spices."  It is absolutely true, and the layered flavor we get in our meals reflects my love of a well-seasoned dish.

One of the easiest game day foods in my book is anything made with rotisserie chickens.  One of our favorites is a Tex-Mex gem.  For some easy tacos, tostadas or nachos, do this:

Easy Super Bowl Food And Mardi Gras Recipes

On February 3rd, this year's Super Bowl will be played in New Orleans which is also the home of some seriously awesome food.

Mr. ReddHedd and I have enjoyed eating our way around the Big Easy on any number of trips, and there are some easy ways to bring home the taste of New Orleans for an easy and delicious Super Bowl party buffet spread as well.

The more I thought about it, the more I realized that there are so many iconic and fabulous New Orleans foods that would work so well as an easy buffet or nibbles spread for the Super Bowl or even just a small Mardi Gras party.  It occurred to me that folks might enjoy some ideas of things they could make easily -- especially foods that could be made in the slow cooker that wouldn't require a lot of constant watching or stuff that could be easily made ahead before the big game.

Anything that allows you to actually enjoy watching the crazy commercials between downs is a plus in my book.  That's especially true when what you want is to enjoy the whole game rather than feel like you have to constantly cook and serve and never get to sit and enjoy.

An easy New Orleans-style nosh could really make the whole experience easy and fun for someone hosting a Super Bowl party.

In terms of sources, you can't go wrong with Cooking Up a Storm: Recipes Lost and Found from The Times-Picayune of New Orleans. This compilation of great recipes from locals, restaurants and the recipe section of the Times-Picayune is essential reading, and was put together after Katrina to help folks recover favorite family recipes lost in the flood waters. It is wonderful stuff, and full of fun stories about Cajun and Creole traditions, too. Marcelle Bienvenue is a treasure all by herself.  And don't overlook the recipe section of the Times-Picayune -- some wonderful recipes in their searchable database, too.

Here are a few ideas for your easy and yummy New Orleans style super bowl feast:

Cooking A Yummy Thanksgiving Turkey

Theories abound on how to cook a Thanksgiving turkey that has the crispy outer skin most people love, while still maintaining a moist, tender bird inside.  This is especially tricky on the breast side of things where the meat tends to get drier and more sawdust-like by the hour as the dark meat cooks and cooks and cooks, right?

I've come up with a few tricks through the years that make our turkey delicious and satisfying at the same time.  This year, I thought I'd pass a few of those along for your Thanksgiving meal.

First, in terms of safety:  you can't go wrong with perusing the Butterball website.  They even have roasting directions for your still-frozen turkey if you forget to thaw it or if you have to buy one on the fly Thanksgiving morning and make your own feast due to a medical or other family emergency issue.  (Don't laugh.  It could really happen to you.  We have been there and back again -- remember a frozen turkey breast in your crockpot can be your friend if you are cooking on the fly and someone in the family has rampant stomach flu.  I'm just saying...)

For the novices out there, the video tutorial on the Butterball website can be really helpful.  Remember this very helpful tip:  remove the bag of assorted turkey organs and gizzards from the turkey BEFORE you put it in the oven, and you are already ahead of 50 percent of the people out there in America this year.  I wish that I were kidding.

I swear by my covered, oval nonstick roaster with a lid.  They can be difficult to find, especially this time of year, so keep an eye out for one for next year of you can't find one at your local stores.  You can make do with a nonstick roasting pan, a disposable foil pan that is deep, and some heavy-duty aluminum foil in a pinch.

This is approximately what you are looking for -- a covered oval roaster -- but, alas, this one is not nonstick.  If you liked the bottom with some parchment paper, you could probably make do if you needed to with this, though, but I can't vouch for it with certainty.

Here's what I do with my turkey, and I'll include directions for a makeshift pan if you can't find a covered roaster:

Awesome Christmas Morning Cinnamon Rolls

Here is my version of some seriously awesome Christmas morning cinnamon rolls.  The best part is that you make them the night before and then all you have to do is pop in a pre-heated oven on Christmas morning. 

I got the original recipe from the flylady website ages and ages ago, but it was never quite cinnamon-y enough for me.  As long-time readers know, I can never leave well enough alone and I've tweaked it through the years to add more cinnamony-sugary-yummy goodness.

We love these.  They get made pretty much only at Christmas these days because they are so ooey-gooey-delish and sugary but not exactly health food (which is fine for the holidays, but not something I want to be eating every day, right?).  Whenever I've brought them out for a special occasion or a "company's coming" breakfast, this recipe is always a huge hit.

Here's the recipe:

Antioxidants, Ahoy?

One of my vows this summer is to somehow, miraculously, get my entire family to eat more veggies and fruits.  I love them, and could most likely pretty much subsist on salads, fruit salads, and side dishes as a lifetime eating choice.

Alas, it is not the way with my hubby and child, who must have meat and bread in abundance at meals or it doesn't seem like a meal. 

But I'm working on it.

Aside from sneaking in some veggies to various sauces (you should see my spaghetti sauce and homemade meatballs between the ground up zucchini and carrot and the bits of herbs everywhere), I've begun to try and work veggies and fruit into our family diet in a more straightforward way as well.  Under the assumption that you can't know you like them if you don't realize you are eating them, I've decided that what you can see can be really informative about where your taste buds are headed.

To that end, I've been puttering around looking for really good veggie and fruit recipes that will appeal not just to my broad, veggie-happy taste buds, but also to people who aren't so keen on trying something new all the time.

Because it is summer, all the farmer's markets are cropping up around where we live, and The Peanut and I will try to get to them a little more frequently in the coming weeks.  I find that if we have grown a veggie, or if she gets to help pick it out, she's a little more likely to taste it for me.  

Those of you who have had successes working more veggies and fruits into the diet of a very, very picky and texture-sensitive child's diet, do tell how you did it.  I am more than ready for some creative cooking advice on that score.

In the meantime, I've been looking for recipes that say healthy, antioxidant-filled summer bonanza.  And I've managed to find quite a few.  Thought some of you might find some of these good for your house as well.  Enjoy!

Strawberry Days

'Tis the season for luscious berries, ripe and ready to be eaten at our house. 

Which is one of the happier times of the year for me, frankly.  I love berries.

I'm planning on some strawberries and angel food cake drizzled with vanilla yogurt sauce as this weekend's dessert-y goodness, but I'm definitely open to more ideas.

Which is why I decided to compile some recipes to share with everyone.  Enjoy!

Slow Cooker Pasta Sauce

It's been a crazy day at our house -- lots of errands to run, a sympathy card to mail, a visit to the funeral home on deck for this afternoon, presents for grandma's birthday to buy, you name it.  So I hadn't had time to really think about dinner until I got home after school pick-up and more errands...and realized I had nothing cooking.

Eeeeeep.

This is where having a few staples in my pantry comes in really handy.  And after about 15 minutes of prep time?  I've got some seriously yummy spaghetti sauce simmering in the crockpot, that will keep until we all finally make it back home.

I make a meat sauce -- because The Peanut loooooves meatballs and meat sauce -- but I make it with lean ground turkey because I want a lower fat content for my family.  I up the flavor with spices and one beef bouillion cube, and it ends up tasting like a rich and decadent meat sauce.

Here's the recipe:

The Last Of The Cookies

We're finishing up the last of the cookies today.

It's another snow day from school for The Peanut, and I'm immensely grateful to the snickerdoodle dough for providing a good diversion this morning.

Last night, I made a double batch of chocolate walnut fantasy fudge with Mr. ReddHedd's assistance.  I tasted it this morning -- well, the cook has to be sure it tastes right, doesn't she? -- and it may very well be the best batch we've ever made.

Seriously nummy, fudgy, chocolatey goodness.

I'm debating whether to make a batch of oatmeal toffee cookies to finish things off.  Oatmeal cookies are Mr. ReddHedd's favorites, but we have a ton of cookies and I'm thinking that I may save them for a "just for us" batch over Christmas instead.

Frankly, I'm just beat from all the baking.

Lemon Meltaway Cookie Recipe

I got a few requests for the lemon meltaway cookie recipe as well, after mentioning I'd made them.

I use a recipe that I clipped from a Land 'O Lakes butter package ages ago, and it really is the yummiest one I've ever tried.  I did a bit of digging around, and found their Lemon Meltaway recipe online now.  I've reviewed it to be sure it is the same one I use.  (It is.)

The only thing I do differently?  I use store-bought frosting that comes in the little can -- I like the Duncan Hines lemon frosting because it has more zing to it.  I used to make my own but, honestly, the canned frosting is easier and it tastes pretty similar to (if not better than) what I make on my own.

I frost them with the lemon frosting and then sprinkle the tops with some yellow sugar crystals.  They look lovely.  And better yet?

These cookies are delicious, but incredibly delicate, so be forewarned: the dough is tender, the cookie is more so after it is baked, so frosting is your friend.   I give mine a hefty swipe of frosting on the top to help keep the tender cookie all in one piece.

These will absolutely disappear from your cookie tray. They literally melt in your mouth.

Honey Spice Cookies

I've had several requests for the Honey Spice Cookies recipe that I'm baking, after posting a description.

So here it is.

As usual, I can't leave well enough alone.  So my modifications to the recipe are below, but it originally came from Taste of Home: Cookies.

A couple of things:

-- This dough is really, really sticky since it has honey in it.  Because they are refrigerator cookies, you can let them sit a day or so before slicing and baking -- I recommend two days.  Otherwise?  You wind up having to clean your knife blade constantly and that's really annoying.

-- Although the original recipe didn't call for them, I added some chopped walnuts to the batter, and they are wonderful in it.  I highly suggest either walnuts or pecans for this.  Seriously yummy.

-- The original called for a powdered sugar glaze to be brushed on the cookies before baking -- I didn't like it, so I've taken it out here.

So here's the recipe:

Even More Baking...

Still baking cookies. Today is, hopefully, the last day for a bit -- I need a rest! But I promised The Peanut that we'd make some sugar cookies (we're either making polvorones, a Spanish cookie that is so yummy or buttery spritz cookies, either way they'll have lots of sprinkles on top) and snickerdoodles.

Those are her favorites, and she made me promise to make them when she could help.

I also have to make some chocolate walnut fudge today, with Mr. ReddHedd's assistance.  My arm wears out while stirring the boiling sugar and butter, and he's happy to help because...well, because I'm making a big pan of yummy fudge.  That's incentive enough, don't you think?

Yesterday, I baked lemon meltaways, honey spice cookies with walnuts and jeweled fruit cookies with pecans.  I also made 5 dozen white chocolate haystacks with toasted coconut and chopped macadamia nuts.

Enjoy a little Julia Child while I go preheat my oven...

The State Of The Day (And The Gray)

Another day, another batch of cookies.  Or several batches, as the case may be.

Yesterday, I managed to get three separate batches of refrigerator cookies made, rolled and packaged in plastic wrap so they could chill overnight for baking today.  If folks want exact recipes for these, please let me know and I will post them as I get time today or tomorrow:

-- Honey Spice Cookies with Walnuts:  This is a new recipe for me this year, and it says it makes 12 dozen cookies.  Given how many rolls of it I have in the fridge right now, I believe them.  The dough smells heavenly as you mix it altogether, because it has cinnamon, cloves and allspice along with 2 cups of honey.  I'll be interested to see how they bake up today.

-- Jeweled Fruit and Pecan Slices:  Red and green cherries and pecan halves, in a tender butter-cookie dough.  I love these as much for how pretty they are on a cookie tray as anything, but they are pretty yummy, too.

-- Lemon Meltaways:  These are amazing with a cup of tea or some hot spiced cider.  They are a really tender cookie, and I always frost them with lemon frosting so you get double the zing.

Today?  I have a couple more types of refrigerator cookies to make so they can chill for baking tomorrow.  And I'm hoping to get a batch of maple pecan drop cookies going, too.

This afternoon?  I have a hair appointment and we're going to talk about what I want to do with the ever-increasing amount of gray in my hair. 

Cookie Baking, Day 3

Thus far?  I've got:

-- 4 dozen brownie bites:  triple chocolate, fudgy brownies baked in a mini-muffin tin -- still have yet to frost them, though, but I'll get there.  More of those to bake today.

-- Slightly less than 8 dozen chocolate chip cookie cups with Hershey kisses stuck in the center.  Wow, are these good (and evil!  hence the slightly less, since Mr. ReddHedd discovered these.).

It's just chocolate chip cookie dough, pulled out of the bowl in a big heaping tablespoon-sized chunk, and plopped into a mini-muffin tin sprayed with cooking spray, and then baked at 350 F for 15 minutes or so.  You pull it out of the oven, plop an unwrapped Hershey's chocolate kiss in the center, and then pop it back into the oven for another 4 minutes or so until they are mostly set.  Then take the pans out, and cool cookies in the pan on a wire rack for 12 minutes or so, then remove from the pans and cool the rest of the way on wire racks.  (Trust me on the in-pan cooling time first -- these are tender and will fall apart, which is great for eating the mistakes but not so great if you are trying to make cookies for gifts.  So don't skimp on the cooling time in the pans.)

-- 6 dozen incredibly potent fudgy rum balls.  I make these from an amazing Emeril recipe and they are fantastic.  But only if you like rum.  If you don't?  I'd skip this recipe.  But if you like rum?  These are heaven.  Seriously.

Brownie Bites

Yesterday, the Christmas cookie baking began in earnest. 

Or at least it began, anyway.  All I got made were 4 dozen one-bite brownies, but it's a start.

And I'll take it.

Today?  More one-bite brownies and a lot of refrigerator cookie dough to make.

I plan on dividing 12 dozen one-bite brownies in half, and doing half of them with coconut-pecan frosting (like the kind you get on German chocolate cake) and the other half with peppermint frosting dotted with little mint chips.

I made some with the mint frosting last year and they were delicious.

How do I make these nummy brownies, you ask?  Pretty easily:

Christmas Cookie Planning

Yesterday, I pulled all of my various cookie cookbooks, saved holiday special edition magazines, and recipe cards out and spent some time going over all the possibilities for this year's batch of Christmas cookie goodness.

I have a couple of cookbooks that are "go to" books this time of year:

-- This one's a classic, but you can't beat the snickerdoodle recipe in the red and white plaid Better Homes and Gardens Cook Book.

-- My other favorite is a compendium of a lot of different types of cookie and bar recipes, including a section of recipes that make a really large batch for party or bake sale baking (or for lots of presents!): Taste of Home: Cookies.

Both are filled with lots of recipes and ideas, and I tend to pull from these two more than any others. That's not to say that I don't have a lot of other cookbooks, magazines and recipe cards...because I do, "out the wazoo" as Mr. ReddHedd would say.

It's just that these two cookbooks form the backbone and everything else just adds texture to the mix.

It's Christmas Cookie Season!

Ooooooooh, the weather outside is frightful, which means it is Christmas cookie season at my house.

It started back when we had very little money and needed to figure out how to get Christmas presents for friends and family back when we were first married.  I baked some cookies with cooking goodies that I had on hand and some flour I found on a major holiday sale, and they were a huge hit.

So I've been making big tins and platters of cookies every year since, some special ones by annual request.

This year?  I debated whether I would do them or not because we've been trying to eat healthier and cookies and candies are not exactly in the usual "eating healthier" range of recipes, now are they?

But I need to make some cookies for The Peanut's school.  "And what's a few more for friends and family?" I said to myself.  Next thing you know, I'm pulling my cookie cookbooks off the shelves and planning for the cookie cooking fest.

"Hello.  My name is Christy.  And I'm a cookie cooking-o-holic."

So here's what I know I'll have to make, based on standing requests from family and friends: