When “clean” doesn’t really mean “clean.”

I have several other posts half-finished and waiting on photos…roasted chicken and the yogurt update…they are coming.  But I wanted to share this link about supermarket chickens.  Since we are heading out to a nearby farm to pick up chickens this weekend, the article seemed timely.  (thanks to Jennifer, my parents’ neighbor, for sending it along!)

photo by Bryan K. Oliver

The bottom line: the “cleanest” of the supermarket chickens were still contaminated HALF of the time.  Yikes.

Check out the full story here.

And then go find a farmer with a yard full of chickens and make friends.

Greens!

It’s hard to escape a farmers’ market without a big bunch of leafy greens.

Turnip Greens (apologies for photos - it's dark so early now - I haven't adjusted yet!)

These greens weren’t actually mine.  My mother bought them.  She got swept up in the chef demonstration recipe which included turnips and bison and some other things I can’t remember.  Anyway, she didn’t expect to use all of them, and so here they are in my kitchen.

It was a night I didn’t really feel like cooking…in fact, my husband almost ran out to grab something…but with the greens on my counter and a couple of staples on-hand (bacon and rice and broth,) I mustered just enough energy to throw together a quick dinner.  No masterpiece here, but we enjoyed a nice Southern staple on the patio and I got to put some green things on my son’s plate.  No, of course he didn’t eat them, but that never stops me from putting them in front of him!

Turnip greens with mushrooms and bacon

The key with greens is that you need a lot of them.  And you have to clean them and then clean them again.  Then they simmer in broth with onions and your choice of pork.  I usually serve them with some vinegar (but I forgot that the other night!)  Also, in spite of washing them twice, there was still some occasional grit…so I really mean it when I say you wash and wash and wash them.  The bacon goes first, then add the onions and mushrooms.  Once everything is nice and happy in the bacon grease you add the washed, chopped greens in batches as they wilt.  Add broth as needed so they can simmer for 40-45 minutes.  Finish with a splash of vinegar before serving.  Oh, and you’ll want to have some cornbread handy to sop up some of that “pot likker” as they call it.

Steam some rice and quick sauté some shrimp…and dinner is served.

No More Suits In My Food, Please

That’s it.  We’re done.  We are now earnestly striving to eradicate corporate involvement from the making/growing of our food.  Yes, we just watched Food, Inc. and I’m afraid there’s no going back.

The anti-corporate, slow food movement is certainly not new.  It’s not even new to me.  I read Pollan’s book (Omnivore’s Dilemma) several years ago and my family rolled their eyes at me for months afterward as I droned on about the evils of corn in our industrial food supply.  I’ve been hovering around the edges of this kind of change for quite awhile.  We did, after all, spend nearly a decade in Seattle…I’ve just been choosing almost-blissful semi-ignorance.  I’m kind of lazy sometimes.

So, no, I wasn’t shocked about the conditions in the slaughterhouses or even that both workers and animals are mistreated.  That’s been true for years.  What I was not prepared for was the intention and malice with which the corporations behind all of our food production carry on their business.  Nor the legions of attorneys whom they employ to prevent the average supermarket shopper from finding out what’s in their food should they think to ask.  And don’t you dare utter a criticism of the industry because it is the giant corporations who are protected – not the consumer.  (I think you might be surprised about the food libel laws, also called veggie libel laws, which exist in this country. And here’s a pretty good summary of the movie which also mentions one of these veggie libel laws in Colorado that you won’t believe.)

I try to buy organic.  We make it to the farmer’s market on occasion.  I’ve looked for a local CSA to support.  I might have been able to continue in my half-aware state, around the edges of this movement, just doing little bits here and there to make myself feel better…except for one woman in this movie.  Barbara Kowalcyk.

Barbara’s story forced me to ask myself, “Well, if no one else is protecting my family, my children…isn’t it ultimately my job?”  This isn’t just about teaching my children to be good stewards of the earth and its resources.  This isn’t just about teaching my sons to take good care of their bodies and be conscious of their health.  Barbara’s story is about the very basic protection of her son’s life.  It was heart wrenching to consider.  And infuriating to learn of the inaction of those responsible and the battle she still fights today in the world of food safety advocacy, now referred to as Kevin’s Law.

And it’s not about fear.  It’s about control.  About taking responsibility for how we impact our planet, our communities, our families and our own bodies with the food we choose three times a day.  Every day.

So what does this really mean? No corporate suits in the food means more overalls, right? No more grocery stores? What about restaurants? Which ones? Meals at other people’s houses? I’ve been asking myself these things over the past few days.  I know enough to try to take as many baby steps as possible with a change like this – to not get too crazy too fast.

For starters, I didn’t immediately throw out every article of food in the house.  We’re going to finish what we already have (which isn’t really a ton.)  I got online and started sourcing grass-fed protein choices from local ranches and farms.  Luckily, a few of them come to a farmer’s market just north of us every Saturday.  I signed up for home delivery of organic produce – all seasonal and local and organic.  I’m getting a bread machine from my mother-in-law at Thanksgiving to help in that department.  Today we purchased a yogurt maker and our first batch will be ready to try in the morning.  (My son loves yogurt and would eat his weight in it daily if I let him.  I seem to be constantly searching for an organic brand with minimal sugar and preservatives…maybe this will solve it.)  We went to another farmer’s market this morning to check out the availability of things like cheese and almond butter and tortillas and other things we tend to always have around.  I’ve started a list of things I’ll still need to find or figure out how to make…but it’s a much smaller list than I expected. And I will NOT be giving up my Diet Coke. Not yet anyway.  I mean, really, a girl can only take so much at once.

For now I’m aware of this: it will be more work in the beginning to be more conscientious.  We will get less food for more money this way (but really, we could all stand to eat a little less around here!)  We will be more grateful for the food we do eat and, I hope, a greater respect for the sacrifice of the animals who nourish us will develop. It will be easier to eat healthier under this new philosophy as no one in overalls is busy making processed food-like products full of corn syrup, right?

I hope to be as free of corporate food as possible by the first of the year.  And I welcome all suggestions and ideas from those of you out there who are ahead of us on this journey.  Stay tuned for more.

And if you haven’t seen the movie, you should.  You really should. Like tomorrow would be soon enough.

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Resources I’m using or planning to try:

Greenling: Austin-based home delivery service promoting local, organic farms

Edelen Farm: grass-fed beef and chicken/eggs

L&M Ranch: grass-fed beef

Farmer’s Markets:  Leon Springs, Bulverde and Pearl

Squash Soup – Two Ways

It’s fall.  And in Texas that means a very welcome change in the weather…and the menu.  I love winter foods: the roasts and stews and counters full of baked things.

A friend of mine recently sent out a butternut squash stew recipe (thanks Allison!) and I made it right away.  Few things say “FALL” like squash, right?

It was not the typical pureed squash soup but rather like a tortilla soup – chunky and spicy and garnished with chips and yogurt.  It was a perfect way to kick off soup season.

Always an easy dinner when it can cook in the crockpot

Like most stews, there is a lot going on in there…leeks, parsnips, herbs, corn and beans.  You could certainly eat it plain, but we put it over couscous and garnished with cheese, chips and yogurt (the tangy Greek kind – way better than regular, I think!)  Just like a tortilla soup…and if you used vegetable broth and nixed the dairy, I think it would even be vegan, right?

Butternut Squash Stew over couscous, garnished with cheddar, Greek yogurt, tortilla chips and lime

As with most soups, this was even better the next day.  I liked it more than my husband did…he wanted it thicker, I think.  Which made me think about pureeing some of the squash and the parsnips and adding them back into the broth.  But I didn’t want to mess up the original…so I just made a whole different soup.

Roasted onions, garlic and squash

This one roasts the veggies first – squash, onions and garlic – and mixes it with sautéed leeks and broth and herbs.  No cream keeps it lighter than usual and everything gets blended together for a more typical velvety squash soup.  Top with some grated Asiago and peppered popcorn and, yes, Fall has arrived.

 

Squash Stew in a Crockpot

• 2 Tbs olive oil
• 2 cups butternut squash — peeled, seeded and cut into 3/4 inch chunks
• 1 leek — cleaned and chopped
• 1/4 celery — sliced  (I left out the celery because no one in my house likes it!)
• 1/2 cup carrot or parsnip — finely chopped (I used parsnips)
• 3 large garlic cloves — minced
• 1/4 to 2 chipotle peppers — minced, to taste (go easy here, the broth is light and will easily be overpowered…you can also use the powdered spice)
• 1 Tbs fresh basil — chopped
• 1 Tbs fresh parsley — chopped
• Fresh parsley — for garnish
• 1 tsp cumin
• 1 can (14 oz) Rotel tomatoes w/mild chilis
• 2 cups vegetable or chicken broth
• 1 can (15 oz) black beans — drained (you can sub great white beans or kidney beans if you prefer)
• 1 can hominy drained (not in Allison’s original recipe…the point is you can play with some of this stuff…add what you like)
• 1 cup whole kernel corn (fresh, canned or frozen)
• 2 limes — cut into wedges for garnish
• Tortilla chips for garnish
• Light sour cream or plain Greek yogurt for garnish (we like Oikos)
• shredded cheese for garnish

Put butternut squash in crockpot.

Heat olive oil in a large skillet. Add the leeks, celery, carrots/parsnips and garlic. Cook and stir for 5-7 mins on medium high heat until vegetables start to soften. Place leek mixture in crock pot. Stir in chipotle peppers, basil, parsley and cumin. Mix in Rotel tomatoes, broth, beans and corn. Put the lid on it and cook on high for 3-4 hours until squash is fork tender.

You can serve it in a bowl on a bed of quinoa…couscous or brown rice would be good too. After you ladle it into bowls, squeeze lime juice over it and top with crushed tortilla chips and dollop of sour cream/yogurt. Sprinkle a little cheese and parsley on top.  Freezes well.

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Roasted Butternut Squash Soup

1 butternut squash

1 onion

3-4 cloves garlic

1 leek, cleaned and chopped

3 TB butter

thyme, fresh or dried, to taste

3-4 cups chicken or vegetable broth

salt and pepper

Roast the squash, onions and garlic in a 350 oven for about 25 minutes (until very soft.)  Sauté leek in butter for 5 – 6 minutes.  Add roasted onion and garlic to leek.  Scrape out soft squash into leek mixture.  Add thyme and broth.  Bring mixture to a boil and simmer for 10-12 minutes.  Use an immersion blender (or do in batches in a regular blender) and puree until smooth.  You can add additional broth if needed to get the consistency you prefer.  Garnish with grated cheese or crackers or popcorn or roasted nuts.  Freezes well.

Meatballs!

A week or so ago one of my dearest friends, Erica, called me in need of a good turkey meatball recipe.  Now, when Erica says she needs a good recipe, she’s serious.  She’s a kitchen experimenter extraordinaire.  And she can be relentless about it…trying different methods and doing recipes over and over until they are just right.  No surprise she’s one of my most favorite people on the planet.  Not to mention she’s got a super cool dog and two of the most adorable boys you’ve ever, ever seen.  (And her husband’s pretty great, too – I shouldn’t leave him out!)

Here's Erica with Adorable Son #1, in blue, and my son at the Seattle Aquarium last year.

The coolest dog, Denali, after a particularly exhausting New Year's party.

And Adorable Son #2 after a particularly exhausting day with my son (in grey.)

Erica and I have conspired on a number of kitchen concoctions and my favorite wine tastings ever were hosted by her.  So I was immediately on board with the quest for a really great turkey meatball.  She was starting with a recipe from Giada and improvising from there.

First things first, she doubled the cheese.  Erica always doubles the cheese.

Then she was planning to caramelize some onions before adding them to mixture…puréed to add moisture…genius.  We discussed bread crumbs and eggs and options for cooking technique.  She promised to send me her final  trial recipe if it turned out.

I made them last night.  You should make them tonight.  YUM.

Meatballs formed and waiting to get a little sear on the outside

I made only slight deviations from her final version: I didn’t completely purée the onions, rather just gave them a super chop after they were caramelized, and I pan-seared them in bacon grease.  I am from the South, after all.

Meatballs getting happy in bacon fat

I wish I had a photo of them finished and on a plate…but everyone ate them too fast.  My three-year-old had SIX of them!  And I thought I’d made enough to have left overs for lunch today…but they were all gone last night. Impressive.

I served them over rice with a brown, mushroom gravy with corn and a green salad on the side.  But I can’t wait to try them in a tomato sauce on a bed of pasta. Or with egg noodles and a stroganoff-type sauce.

And the next time I make them I’m going to double or triple the batch so I can always have some handy in the freezer.  Thanks to my dear Seattle pal, I present, a fantastic turkey meatball:

Turkey Meatballs

adapted from Erica who adapted from Giada

1 large sweet onion – chopped, caramelized and puréed (or adequately mashed)

3 garlic cloves, minced

1 large egg

1/4 cup Italian seasoned breadcrumbs

3 TB ketchup  (I’m also thinking about doing half tomato paste and half pesto here…if you try that, let me know!)

1/4 cup chopped fresh Italian parsley

1/4 cup Asiago, grated

1/4 cup Parmesan, grated

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon pepper

1 pound ground turkey meat

3 TB olive oil – or bacon grease

Add all ingredients (expect turkey and oil) to a large bowl and blend well.  Mix in turkey until evenly blended.  Shape turkey into 1 1/4 inch balls.  (I use one of those scoopers for cookie dough to help keep them semi-uniform.) Heat oil in a large pan over medium-high heat.  Brown meatballs, in batches if necessary, until browned on all sides, but not cooked through – about 5 minutes.  Transfer the meatballs to a baking sheet and bake at 400 for 15-18 minutes.  Let rest for a few minutes before serving.  Makes roughly 24 meatballs.

 

The French Macaron: Take One

More French.  I know.  I can’t help it.

The 2009 October Daring Bakers’ Challenge was brought to us by Ami S.  She chose macarons from Claudia Fleming’s The Last Course: The Desserts of Gramercy Tavern as the challenge recipe.

I actually had no idea what a macaron really was. In America the term “macaroon” usually refers to a cookie made primarily of coconut.  European macarons are cookies made of almond flour or almond paste and sugar and egg whites…which are then sandwiched together with buttercream or ganache…the texture is both chewy and crunchy.  Turns out, they are an art form of sorts and seem kind of fussy.  If you want to see what I mean, go here.  Helen of Tartelette is widely regarded in the food blogging world as one of the Queens of the Macaron.  Here are some of hers…you can see why:

Violet Macarons from Tartelette

Aren’t they amazing looking?

Red Berry Macarons from Tartelette

One of the important characteristics of the cookie is the “foot.”  That’s the bottom part of the cookie, the part touching the baking sheet, where you can see all the air bubbles that were in the batter.  It almost looks like it is separate from the shiny top.  They are really beautiful.

Mine don’t look anything like this. Hence the “Take One” in the title of the post.

Yummy...but oh so flat.

You can just barely see the “feet” on these little wafers, but they aren’t nearly as puffy as they should have been.  In fact, I felt like I was making the milanos again! Here’s what Ami had to say about the elusive macaron:

French macaroons are notorious for being difficult to master. Type in “macaroon,” “French macaroon” or “macaron” in your search engine of choice, and you will be inundated not only with bakeries offering these tasty little cookies, but scores and even hundreds of blogs all attempting to find the perfect recipe, the perfect technique. Which one is right? Which captures the perfect essence of macaroons? The answer is all of them and none of them. Macaroons are highly subjective, the subject of passionate, almost Talmudic study and debate. Chewy? Crisp? Age your egg whites? Ground the nuts or use nut meal or nut flour? Cooked sugar syrup, or confectioners’ sugar? In the words of a therapist, what do you think is the ideal macaroon? The answer lies within you.

The answer is not within me, yet.

I will say that these little cookies are delicious.  And the texture, while flatter than it should have been, was still discernible and quite wonderful.  Crunchy and chewy at the same time – genius.  I put pumpkin pie spices in the cookie batter and used cream cheese filling sweetened with sugar and blueberries (the lavender one.)  The flavor possibilities are overwhelming.  So, I can guarantee that when I have egg whites hanging around (which I most certainly will since we love this pie so much) there will be a Take Two and Take Three…and so forth.

Oh macarons…I am not finished with you yet.

The recipe I used is below.  For lots of flavors and varying degrees of success, check out The Daring Kitchen.  And don’t forget about Tartelette’s recipes, too, which many said were more successful than the challenge recipe.  I intend to try hers in the upcoming attempts.

French Macarons

Ingredients
Confectioners’ (Icing) sugar: 2 ¼ cups (225 g, 8 oz.)
Almond flour: 2 cups (190 g, 6.7 oz.)
Granulated sugar: 2 tablespoons (25 g , .88 oz.)
Egg whites: 5 (Have at room temperature)

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 200°F (93°C). Combine the confectioners’ sugar and almond flour in a medium bowl. If grinding your own nuts, combine nuts and a cup of confectioners’ sugar in the bowl of a food processor and grind until nuts are very fine and powdery.
2. Beat the egg whites in the clean dry bowl of a stand mixer until they hold soft peaks. Slowly add the granulated sugar and beat until the mixture holds stiff peaks.
3. Sift a third of the almond flour mixture into the meringue and fold gently to combine. If you are planning on adding zest or other flavorings to the batter, now is the time. Sift in the remaining almond flour in two batches. Be gentle! Don’t overfold, but fully incorporate your ingredients.
4. Spoon the mixture into a pastry bag fitted with a plain half-inch tip (Ateco #806). You can also use a Ziploc bag with a corner cut off. It’s easiest to fill your bag if you stand it up in a tall glass and fold the top down before spooning in the batter.
5. Pipe one-inch-sized (2.5 cm) mounds of batter onto baking sheets lined with nonstick liners (or parchment paper).
6. Bake the macaroon for 5 minutes. Remove the pan from the oven and raise the temperature to 375°F (190°C). Once the oven is up to temperature, put the pans back in the oven and bake for an additional 7 to 8 minutes, or lightly colored.
7. Cool on a rack before filling.

A Childhood Favorite

Not my childhood, though. This is about one of my husband’s favorite dishes. His family is Hungarian on his father’s side and French-Cajun on his mother’s side. So, in addition to the crazy-delicious gumbo and etouffee which came out of his mother’s kitchen, she also produced some Hungarian classics.

After we’d been married a few years we started attempting some of those dishes from his childhood – you know the ones – you just smell them and you are instantly transported to your mom’s kitchen? One of the first on the list was something he called “noodley.” Very simply it is sausage and cabbage and dumplings…a classic peasant-type dish with that stick-to-your-ribs quality that is the hallmark of so many comfort foods.

In doing a little research on this recipe what I discovered is that it is actually called NOKEDLI.  Well, at least that’s what the dumplings are called…so maybe it would be Nokedli with Cabbage and Sausage.  Most recipes for the nokedli suggest serving them with chicken paprikash or putting them in stew.

We made this dish a time or two when living in Seattle…we were kind of winging it, though. A few weeks ago when Ron’s mother was here we asked her to make it for dinner so we could take notes. You see, she’s one of those home cooks who rarely ever uses a recipe. She says things like, “Just cook it until it is the color of fried chicken,” and “cook for about one or two beers.” Yes, as in cook it for the time it takes you to drink one or two beers…which is great, except I don’t drink beer!

The cabbage starting to cook down

Anyway, I’ve made it again on my own since then and I’ve almost got it. Almost.  Those little nokedli take some practice. I think I would like them a little lighter – they are pretty dense – but Ron would certainly complain. After all, it’s his childhood memories being tapped into, right? I shouldn’t mess with it too much!  Some of the recipes I came across online suggested using soda water instead of regular water in order to lighten up the dumplings…so keep that in mind if you decide to try this yourself.  I also threw some apples in there (shhhh, don’t tell ‘cuz they are not part of the original recipe) because I was worried the cabbage wasn’t sweet enough.  The point is you can play with it a little.

Finished dish with nokedli mixed in

See how the cabbage gets all glossy and yummy when cooked down?  The sausage flavors everything as it cooks and then you mix the cooked nokedli in at the very end.  I intend to keep perfecting the dumpling technique – details below – but overall we were pretty happy with the flavor.  What I can’t decide now is whether or not to keep calling it “noodley”…

I’d love to hear the childhood recipes you can’t do without…have you ever been able to make it like mom did?  What dishes will your kids crave when they are adults?

Cabbage and Sausage with Nokedli

grease from 4-6 slices of cooked bacon

1 head white cabbage, sliced into thin strips

1 medium onion, diced

1 small apple, diced (optional)

Polish or German style sausage (1-2 pounds,) sliced

chicken or vegetable stock, 2-3 cups

For Nokedli:

2 cups flour

2 eggs

1/2 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup water  (more or less depending on how big your eggs are)

Warm the bacon grease in a large skillet.  (I use my 12-inch skillet for this…you need plenty of space.)  Saute the onions and apples for a few minutes.  Add cabbage in batches and stir until it begins to wilt a bit.  Add sausage slices to the top and cover skillet.  You will add the broth as the cabbage cooks down – just enough to keep everything from sticking/burning.  The cabbage mixture should be shiny and moist as it cooks down, but not necessarily floating in the broth.  It takes nearly an hour for the cabbage to cook down and get sweet.

While that is happening, boil a large pot of salted water and prepare the nokedli batter.  Mix the flour, eggs, salt and water in a large bowl. (My mother-in-law’s recipe did not specify the amount of water…she says, “you just add water until it is thick and sticky.” The average amount called for in the recipes I found online was about 3/4 of a cup…but you can certainly adjust that to get the consistency you want.) Using a teaspoon, “cut” little rolled pieces of the batter into the boiling water. They should drop to the bottom. Also dipping the spoon into the water helps them release. Continue doing this – slowly enough that your water keeps boiling – until you have used all the batter. The dumplings will rise to the top when they are ready. (My mother-in-law says to keep cooking for 10-12 minutes like you would with pasta…most other recipes say they are ready when they rise.  I say, try one each way and see which texture you like best!)

Drain the cooked dumplings and add to the finished cabbage mixture.  I like there to be some moisture still in the cabbage mixture so the dumplings can absorb that flavor.  Allow to cook on low heat so the flavors can combine.

Enjoy!

Note: I also found references for Hungarian noodles made with a similar recipe referred to as “kluse” and, of course, lots of similarity to spaetzle. Here’s a recipe from Tyler Florence.

Daring Cooks’ Challenge: Beef Pho

The October 2009 Daring Cooks’ challenge was brought to us by Jaden of the blog Steamy Kitchen. The recipes are from her new cookbook, The Steamy Kitchen Cookbook.

During our years in Seattle we discovered Pho and fell in love.  Pho is a traditional Vietnamese noodle soup with a very distinctive, delicious broth garnished with basil, cilantro, bean sprouts, limes and fresh chiles.  (And, by the way, the pronunciation of Pho is “fuh?” like a question.  Funny huh?)  It can be chicken or beef or vegetarian…it’s all about the broth.  When it’s done right, nothing beats it on a cold, dreary day.

Pho photo from The Steamy Kitchen

Since moving back to Texas we’ve searched for the elusive broth and some place that does this yummy soup justice.  My husband has found a place or two that will satisfy the craving, but none that have totally knocked his socks off.  He was hopeful and excited about this challenge.

There are some key elements to the broth: charring the onions and ginger, toasting the spices, the right amount of fish sauce and allowing the broth to simmer long enough for the flavor to really deepen as it should.

Ginger and onions ready to be charred

Toasting fennel seeds, cinnamon stick, star anise, coriander seeds, cloves and cardamom pods

Beef bones, charred ginger and onions and toasted spices (in mesh bag) simmering to make the broth.

The broth simmers for about 3 hours and the aroma is so yummy and distinctive it is nearly impossible to wait that long!   When it is finally time to serve you place cooked rice noodles in a bowl with very, very thinly sliced raw beef and some of the beef from the bones used to make the broth.  The hot broth gets ladled in, “cooks” the beef and gets soaked up by the noodles.

Then comes the fun part: garnishing with an assortment of delicious greenery and sauces – basil, cilantro, bean sprouts, fresh chiles, limes, Sriracha and Hoisin sauce.

Accompaniments

And when it all comes together…mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.

I know that beef looks rare in the photo, but in a matter of a minutes it was cooked perfectly.

So, the verdict?  Well, it was mixed.  The flavor was definitely there and nearly perfect…but it was light or thin…it didn’t quite have the depth we were looking for. Naturally, the next day the broth was a little more complex and much closer to the pho grail we seek.  Also, I think it needed more fish sauce.

Next time – and oh yes there will be a next time – I will up the fish sauce, allow the broth simmer for a bit longer and let it sit overnight before serving.  I suspect it will make us happy, happy…like, maybe even Seattle happy.

For the full recipe and instructions, visit The Steamy Kitchen.  And for a gazillion other versions of Pho, see The Daring Kitchen.

Rainy Day

I don’t make everything from scratch – far from it.  And sometimes the time spent in the kitchen is really about the time spent…and not about what comes out of the oven.  Like these:

Lemon and Blueberry Cupcakes with a lemon glaze

We have a very, very fussy eleven-week-old in our house. He pretty much cries for the better part of every day. And while I’m learning a great deal about myself through this time, I’m also learning a great deal about my three-year-old. For instance, he’s very patient about some things and he’s naturally nurturing. After a particularly rough period today, I finally got the baby to sleep. There were one hundred things I would have liked to have done that I can’t do while holding him – things like cleaning the kitchen or sorting laundry – but, instead, I suggested we make cupcakes. My three-year-old looked so surprised…which told me I don’t do this often enough. He had played quietly with his blocks and some puzzle books for most of the day – all while listening, without complaint, to the baby scream. There hadn’t been a lot of mommy’s attention available to him. It’s muddy outside and we couldn’t get too crazy since the baby would only be quiet for about 20 minutes…something quick in the kitchen seemed just the thing.

Nothing fancy here. Boxed lemon cake mix…because a three-year-old can mix in water and oil and eggs and stir to his heart’s content. His little fingers made quick work of placing the muffin papers in the pan. I scooped in the batter and adding blueberries to each one was a good counting exercise (there’s five blueberries in each one, by the way.) The glaze is lemon juice and confectioner’s sugar – he helped squeeze the lemon with the citrus press he sometimes uses as a drum stick.

We laughed and made a little bit of a mess; he licked his fingers a lot and asked one million questions. He had my undivided attention for the longest stretch of time I could manage today. So, no, these cupcakes aren’t anything special…but the time spent in the kitchen was.

Two Pies

There are a handful of recipes I consider my “default” recipes.  When I don’t have time to cook or, on the rare occasion I don’t feel like cooking, I turn to a few super easy standby recipes…things like tacos and spaghetti and grilled chicken.  Last week I reached for the spaghetti ingredients on just such an evening and thought, “I don’t really feel like eating spaghetti.”  So I turned it into pie…just like my mom used to make when I was little.

The cooked pasta gets mixed with butter and grated parmesan cheese and molded into a pie plate

Spaghetti crust

Then you spread a layer of ricotta cheese and top it with your sauce.  This sauce is one of those quick envelope kind mixed with tomato paste and then I add sauted mushrooms and ground turkey.  (I have a wonderful Bolognese sauce that is triple-reduced which would be delicious here, but that would totally defeat the handy-I-don’t-feel-like-cooking-recipe idea, wouldn’t it?  I’ll save it for another time!)

Filling the pie with ricotta and sauce

Then the whole things gets topped with mozzarella and baked until the top is golden and bubbly.

While it was resting I threw together a green salad with easy homemade dressing (I love that thing!) and let some garlic bread warm in the oven.  The resting part is important…just like lasagna…if you don’t let it cool a little, the slices fall apart when you serve them.

Slice of pie, spaghetti style

Easy as pie.

Speaking of pie…since we had it for dinner, we had to have it for dessert, too.

This just might be my very favorite pie.  Really.  Like the number one pie.  It’s an old-timey recipe called Buttermilk Pie and I serve it with a triple-berry sauce that is so versatile.  It would be delicious on ice cream or in yogurt…in fact, in the days following the pie I had the sauce on pancakes and in oatmeal.  It also would have been delicious on those little French puffs I did a few weeks ago.

Dreamy creamy buttermilk pie with triple berry sauce

If you are afraid of pies, like some people are, this is a great one to have in your repertoire.  You can cheat on the crust and no one will ever notice and you can garnish it with just about any kind of fruit or chocolate you happen to have around.  Make this pie.  You won’t be sorry.

All around it was a night I would have rather picked up take-out to eat while in front of the TV…but, thanks to on-hand ingredients for a jazzed-up standby and some leftover pie, we had dinner at the table and my three-year-old laughed at pie for dinner and pie for dessert with a salad in between.

Buttermilk Pie with Triple Berry Sauce

from Martha Stewart’s Annual Recipes

Graham-Cracker Coated Crust

(You can totally skip this part and use a prepared graham cracker crust instead – I won’t tell, I promise.)

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

3/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup unsalted butter

1/4 cup ice water

4 graham crackers, finely ground (1/2 cup)

Pie Filling

3 cups buttermilk

1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted and cooled

8 large egg yolks

2 teaspoons vanilla

2 cups sugar

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon lemon zest, grated

Directions

For crust: Use a 10-inch pie plate.

Pulse flour and salt in food processor.  Add butter and pulse until mixture resembles coarse crumbs.  With machine running, add ice water a little at a time until dough just holds together.

Turn out dough onto a lightly floured work surface and flatten into a disk.

Wrap in plastic and refrigerate for 1 hour.

Spread graham crumbs on clean work surface.  Roll out dough on top of crumbs, coating both sides, into a 14 inch round about 1/8 inch thick.  Fit into pie plate, crimp edges and refrigerate shell at least 30 minutes.

For Pie: Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Prick bottom of shell with a fork, line shell with foil, fill with dried beans and bake until edges are lightly browned- about 25 minutes.

Remove foil and bake another 10 minutes to lightly brown bottom of crust.

Cool completely.

IF YOU USE A PREPARED PIE CRUST, START HERE.

Reduce oven to 350.

In a bowl, whisk together buttermilk, butter, egg yolks and vanilla.

In another bowl combine sugar, flour and salt.

Whisk liquid ingredients into dry ingredients.

Pass through a fine strainer into a clean bowl.

Stir in lemon zest.

Pour mixture into pie shell and bake until center is just set, about 1 hour and 10 minutes.

Cool and refrigerate at least 4 hours.

Serve with berry sauce.

Triple Berry Sauce

adapted from Martha Stewart

1/2 cup sugar

1 TB freshly squeezed lemon juice

2 pints fresh blueberries, picked over and rinsed

6 oz (1 container) fresh blackberries

6 oz (1 container) fresh raspberries

1 teaspoon cornstarch

In a medium saucepan over medium heat, stir together sugar, lemon juice, and half of each kind of berry.  Bring just barely to a boil.  Reduce heat to low and simmer until the berries burst and release their juice, about 3 minutes.

In a small bowl dissolve the cornstarch in about 1 teaspoon of cold water and then stir into sauce.  Simmer, stirring, until it thickens slightly, about 1 minute.  Remove from heat and stir in remaining berries.  Refrigerate until chilled.  Stir again before serving.