Edible Antics - Having Fun With Food

Odd Ingredients on Cupboard Shelf Enjoyed Over Pasta

Sometimes odd ingredients, snagged in a whim off a grocery store shelf, take up prolonged residence in the home cupboard for weeks, months, or (in my house) years. I know this is true. Once I heard Prairie Home Companion's Garrison Keillor refer to water chestnuts purchased in such moments, and consumed only by house-bound Minnesotans during prolonged blizzards. Yes, on the very night I heard his monologue, I noticed my own resident water chestnuts. I also have a 1/2-decade old jar of pureed, roasted eggplant, a jar of Thai peanut sauce, a jar of curried corn relish, a package of miso soup...well my list could continue, but you get the idea.

So if you have a jar of Calamata olives and a package of pine nuts which you no longer recall why you bought, I have the recipe for you. It's a pasta recipe, and it is so good that I am entering it in the food-blogging event: Vegetables, Beautiful Vegetables 2008.

Of course, you'll need a few other ingredients to make it, but not many. As long as your olives are already pitted, the recipe is easy and fairly quick to make. I got the recipe from my mom. She didn't make it often because back-in-the-day she had to de-pit the olives. Once she gave me that job, and I learned the first secret of a top chef: delegate the prep-work.

So here's the recipe for Pasta with Olives and Tomatoes:

• 1-2 Tablespoons of olive oil
• 1/2 cup pine nuts
• 4 large garlic cloves, chopped fine or pressed
• red pepper flakes, to taste
• 25 Greek olives, chopped (I buy Calamata, pitted olives)
• sprigs of fresh basil, chopped
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 1 teaspoon (or 1 cube) of chicken or vegetable bouillon dissolved in 3/4 cup boiling water
• 5 ripe Roma tomatoes, diced

While cooking enough angel hair or thin spaghetti pasta for 3-4 people, heat olive oil in a skillet. To the heated oil, add garlic, pine nuts, and red pepper flakes. Saute a few minutes. Add basil, broth, salt and pepper. Cook about 1-2 minutes. Add olives. Drain pasta. Turn off heat under skillet and add the tomatoes. Toss the tomatoes in the skillet mixture to warm them up. Pour the sauce over the pasta and serve.

Mothers and Daughters - Baking Cakes and Growing Up Together in Wisconsin

The best Mother's Day gift is a growing daughter, - far more enjoyable than a flowering plant, though admittedly a bit more work. My eight-year-old daughter, Lauren, is a budding chef who this past Mother's Day longed to express her giant love with a sweet gift of food. Last week, she began begging me to make Lazy Daisy cake with her. She said we had to make it for Mother's Day because "Mothers like daisies and they're never lazy!"

She found the recipe in my cookbook, Mom's Updated Recipe Box: 250 Family Favorites Made Quick and Healthy. I think she picked it because the author, Donna Weihofen, wrote, "This is the first cake my friend Mary made when she was about eight years old. She got the recipe from her grandmother's cookbook. It is a wonderful dessert but it is also lovely served for a morning brunch or afternoon tea."

Initially, Lauren wanted me to make the Lazy Daisy Cake. But life was busy and I kept putting it off. Undeterred, yesterday afternoon (Mother's Day) Lauren said she wanted to make it herself. After all, the little girl mentioned in the cookbook had been 8-years-old. At that moment, however, I was about to leave for a walk with a close friend, -a weekly mental-health walk necessary for maintaining this mother's sanity. I didn't want Lauren using the stove by herself. Precociously persuasive, Lauren talked her Dad into helping, which meant her 5-year-old brother, Dave, had to help too. Dave didn't fit into Lauren's ideal plan, but she accepted and resolved to manage around him, -and thus her maturity develops.

When I returned, the yellow cake was topped with a brown sugar and coconut icing. Lauren and I LOVE coconut, though Dave remains ambivalent about it. We all quickly ate our dinner in anticipation of dessert. Lauren beamed when I served her cake. To show my appreciation I ate two pieces, something I rarely let them do. This made Lauren even more proud!

Lauren wanted to know if this was my best Mother's Day ever! I told her it was because I knew it certainly was for her. It was the first year that her gift to me had not been store-bought by her dad or fabricated by a school-teacher. She put the energy of her heart into her hands to create a gift to nourish a soul. Now if that's not a person in full bloom, I can't imagine what is. Thank you, Lauren.

For the Lazy Daisy Cake recipe, click on 'continue reading...'

REAL Physical Therapy: Walleye Fishing and Vacationing with Rhinelander's Hodag in Wisconsin's Northwoods

A couple of days ago, the receptionist at the sports medicine/physical therapy clinic was telling me about her great weekend fishing on a northern Wisconsin lake. "I caught 18 walleye," she beamed. "And one of them was...." I don't remember the exact weight she said, but it was heavy enough that eyes widened and jaws dropped in the waiting room.

I asked her, "Did you get to fry it up that day? There's nothing better than fresh-cooked walleye."

"Oh no," she said, "We were fishing for (a charity benefit whose name I didn't catch and which her tone assumed I knew of). "All the fish went to the fund-raiser And we're going to go up next weekend and do it again!" I marveled. How cool was that! Anglers helping out their Wisconsin neighbors by doing what they love most, - fishing! "And it was so cheap!" she continued. "All it cost me was gas money plus $30 for the cabin rental. Can you believe it, - a weekend of fun for $66!" I was impressed too.

As the physical therapist greeted me, he asked me about the travel guide I was carrying, Wisconsin with Kids, by Kristin Visser and Jerry Minnich. I said I was looking for a vacation destination that would be fun for the kids and easy on the wallet. "Rhinelander, - in the northwoods," he said, emphatically. "It's Wisconsin's best kept secret. It has lakes for fishing and boating; great hiking trails through miles of woods. It's beautiful up there. The resorts are reasonably priced. A cabin on a lake won't set you back much. And if you want all the tourist stuff you can go a few miles down the road to Minocqua. Minocqua gets all the press, but resorts there are pricier. Better to stay in Rhinelander and just day-trip into Minocqua. Check out Rhinelander's Chamber of Commerce, - you'll see."

"Do you vacation up there?" I asked.

"Oh, I'm from Rhinelander." That explains the enthusiasm, I thought. "I grew up there. I'm an outdoors guy. I like to hunt and fish and camp."

"What brings you to Madison?" I asked.

"My wife's job. I could get a job in Rhinelander, no problem. But for now we're here...You've got to visit Rhinelander."

OK, I thought. Yesterday I started investigating Rhinelander. I learned Rhinelander is Hodag country. The Hodag is a large, red-eyed, white-spiked, tusked, and scary, but smiling, green monster that lurks about and of which residents report sightings. An outdoor, life-size hodag statue greets visitors. "You see kids! The monster's not under your bed - it's in Rhinelander!"

This weekend, the Holiday Acres resort in Rhinelander is having its Mother's Day Weekend of Jazz. Unfortunately we won't get up there for that. Nonetheless, Rhinelander stays on the short list of Wisconsin places to see.

But back to fish, - and cooking with walleye. Now, most Wisconsinites just lightly batter fish and quick fry it in a skillet. This ages-old, versatile method has been done on stoves, grills, and camp-fires, and suits this blog because I typically rave about fast, easy-to-cook family fare. For variety's sake however, it's time I reported an extra-fancy, for-entertaining-only, challenging-to-prepare, requiring-special-equipment, but well-worth-all the-effort recipe. It's an appetizer recipe that will be years before I make and looks extraordinarily yummy right now. Someone should make it and invite me over.

Click on 'continue reading...' for the recipe: Walleye and Crayfish Mousseline. It comes from the cookbook, The Northwoods Table: Natural Cuisine Featuring Native Foods.

Ice Cream Islands in Blue Jello are a Fun, Easy-to-Make Party Dessert for Kids Learning the Alphabet!

Ice cream islands in Caribbean, blue Jello are a fun, easy-to-make party treat for children! Yesterday the kids and I played another round of our weekly alphabet game. It's Lauren (8) and my way of teaching Dave (5) his alphabet to ready him for kindergarten. Yesterday's special letters were I and J, so we celebrated by making and eating Ice cream Islands in blue Jello.

I got the idea from the 'Fish Tank' recipe in The Blue Plate Diner Cookbook. It's super easy to make. Just follow the package directions on 'Berry Blue' Jell-O mix. After the jello has set half-way, mix in some gummy fish. Let the jello finish setting. The fish look like they're swimming in the Caribbean.

To make the ice cream islands, I placed a scoop of French vanilla ice cream in the center of each plate. Then I spooned jello and fish around each island. I stuck a cocktail umbrella in the ice cream to give it that festive look. This party dessert couldn't be faster or simpler to make, and the kids thought it great fun! It would be perfect for a luau party!

Fun, Easy, Mexican-American Food for a Cinco de Mayo Party!

Cinco de Mayo esta aqui! Want to celebrate with food that's festive, fun, easy, and nutritious? No problema! Hay muchas comidas deliciosas para ti. Yes, it's been a flurry of activity in my kitchen as we prepare for our Cinco de Mayo party tonight! Yesterday I made green chile chicken in the crock pot, - spicy for the adults. And I made green chile chicken in the skillet, sans green chiles, for the kids. Then I mixed up a batch of guacamole, but I ate it. So I'll be making more again tonight. This morning I whipped up spinach enchiladas, except, true to form, the spinach I was certain was in the freezer, wasn't. So my enchiladas are broccoli. Who cares? - the kids don't like broccoli or spinach, and I like them both. No problema! The salad fixings lay ready in the crisper; beans and chips stand by in the cupboard. We'll string the red, chile pepper lights in the kitchen and bueno! Tenemos una fiesta!

Here are pics of my Spinach (broccoli) Enchiladas. The recipe comes from Bluephies New American Cooking cookbook. I'm posting it on the side page Holiday Fare.

First the veggies get sauteed and mixed with cream cheese.

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Rolling up the cream cheese, broccoli, onion, and pepper goodness.

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Baked for 10 minutes!

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Vamos a ver! A pile of spicy goodness!

Maturing Peppers Give Full Flavor to Life's Feasts!

Front page news last week featured the latest in high-tech, anti-aging remedies, - remedies, as if aging was a malady from which one needed to recover. More accurately, youth is what must be remedied. Maturity is time spent fixing and compensating for the many mistakes caused by youth's hapless, self-absorbed sense of immortality. Every one of us has a "My name is Earl" list, -that's life. So we spend our mature years addressing it, and gradually exchange hubris for wisdom. All I can say is "Oh, to be a bell pepper!"

Put a bell pepper in front of a mirror. The pepper doesn't study its reflection and despair, "Ah, I'm losing my tone. My skin is sagging. How many new wrinkles today?... I used to be firm and crisp. What happened?"

A young pepper may anxiously long to grow large and ripe. In anticipatory excitement, it awaits to be picked, snapped open, and splash its juices out into the world. At that instant, it announces its over-abundant, fresh vitality! The pepper screams, "Bring on the salad greens!- I'll flavor them! I'll give them everything I've got -my fresh from the earth, raw, perky bountiful goodness. Now, at this moment, I stand, radiating my glorious, colorful promise of health to all who partake of me! I am a pepper!"

And what does a pepper say who's been in the crisper too long?..well, pretty much the same sentiment, except the words differ. This time it says, "Bring on the chili! I'm goin' to a party, - a pepper party! Family reunion time! Time for a HOT time in the old pot tonight! Come on anchos! Where you been poblanos,- my old cousins? Woo-hoo - habanero, you hot thing - you're sizzlin! YES! YES! It's time to ease myself down into that warm, bubbling tomato bath. Time to relax my fibrous cellulose. Time to check out what's been happenin' in the cupboard. HELLO onions! garlic! and beans! Spices, let me introduce myself and absorb your essence. To this chili I give my full pepper goodness. Take my flavor - take my texture - take all of me, - I AM YOURS! Mixed with my fellow foods, we are a complete, bountiful, nutritious meal. We satisfy and sustain. We are CHILI!

And what happens later to the discarded, left-over chili, or the forgotten pepper that shriveled in the crisper? Are there onion tears? Nope, there are not, -just shouts of "I'm headin' to the compost! Here I am worms, insects, and micro-organisms. Let's make some soil! Get busy everybody, - time to grow some new peppers!"

Peppers with attitude! - not spritzes and creams.

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Click on 'continue reading...' for the Eldorado Grill's recipe for Roasted Garlic Green Chile Sauce'.

Recipe for Comforting Sick Children - Homemade Macaroni and Cheese Casserole

Sunday, Lauren (8) came down with strep throat. For the first 36 hours, she consumed only sporadic tablespoons of jello. Yesterday, she tentatively began eating again. This noon, she requested macaroni and cheese. Relief dropped my shoulders back below my ears. Her health is returning. Eager to please, I went for the Kraft Macaroni and Cheese box, - a staple in the cupboard.

"Oh no, Mom. Please not Kraft," she said in a plaintiff voice. "Won't you make it like you did before? -Homemade macaroni and cheese?!"

I looked at her blankly. I had no clue how I had made "homemade" macaroni and cheese before. I said I didn't remember how to make it.

"But Mom, that was the best macaroni and cheese EVER! You know how! - You do!" She insisted.

I admit a vague remembrance of tossing odd amounts of cheese into...was it butter and milk? Did I use olive oil? Did I do it in a double boiler? I was at a loss. Typical, that night I must have been just tossing and stirring food into pots while my mind tended to household mail, kid homework, 'ow-ies', sibling squabbles, and all the rest that goes into a normal, healthy life. And that night I made "the best macaroni and cheese ever? Hmh, I paused. It's not that I'm a great cook, mind you. It's just that that night I must have gotten lucky, and they ate what I made.

"Please Mom, won't you make it?" she repeated her plea. What could I say to those fever-glazed eyes? My daughter had just returned from a mother's-imagined death's door. Somehow I had to whip up a cheese sauce. So what did I do?..I punted.

I remembered seeing a macaroni and cheese recipe in The Cancer Survival Cookbook, in the section "Easy Lunches". (Seemed appropriate at the moment.) The recipe is slightly more elaborate than a Kraft mock-up. It is actually a casserole in which the macaroni and cheese get baked with seasonings beneath a bread crumb/parsley/cheese topping.  So I made it. And I'm posting the recipe on the side page Comfort Foods - Wisconsin Style.

I mostly followed the ingredients list. I had already dumped pasta in water, so I wasn't sure the pasta proportion was exactly 10 ounces like the recipe called for. And I didn't use elbow macaroni, - but both my substitutes (from previously opened boxes) were rippled or twisted. I didn't have shredded American cheese, - I used shredded Mozzarella. But Weihofen and Marino, the cookbook's authors, say to try the recipe with cheddar and Swiss, so I guess they're flexible about cheese too.

The upshot? - We both liked the baked macaroni and cheese...

Gifts of the Garden: Flowers, Spices, and Beer for a Happy Mother's Day!

With spring comes Mother's Day! Two weeks before Mother's Day is when we start thinking about what to send my husband's mother in Rhode Island. She is an avid gardener so a garden-related gift is always appreciated - except if it's a gardening tool; she already has lots of those.

My mom also loved gardening. In fact, when I was a kid, her standard Mother's Day gift from my brother and me was one day's labor in the garden. We raked out the flower beds and did the early weeding. I don't remember doing it as joy but rather as a duty. Of course, our one day's labor was really only a half day. Mom always let us off after a couple of hours.

When I got my own home, our Mother's Day gift arrangement changed. On or near Mother's Day, Mom and I would go together to a garden center. I would buy her a flowering plant for Mother's Day, and she would buy me flowering plants for my birthday. Notice that her gift to me was in the plural. Mothers are like that.

Regarding special Mother's Day foods that we fixed Mom, I only remember the comical 'breakfasts in bed' we tried to serve her when we we very young. She would express effusive appreciation and try to conceal her worry that we were about to spill coffee and juice all over her bed.

On our birthdays, Mom would let us choose the dinner menu. I can tell you the favorites she fixed me, my brother, and my dad. But, honesty, I don't recall what she ate on her birthday. I guess we went out, but I don't remember what she ordered.

Last spring, Mom passed away from cancer. And now I sit wondering what she would eat on Mother's Day. The only foods I can come up with are Chinese food and foods containing lemons. I'm not much of a chef in Chinese cuisine. But I've got this great recipe for ginger bread with lemon sauce, which I figure could be more than an acceptable compromise. In addition, both the bread and the sauce call for a cup of beer, - so now we're talking celebrating Mother's Day Wisconsin style!

I'm posting the recipe on the side page MORE recipes with brats, beer, and cheese! But click for more below, and I'll tell you my little improvisation on Ginger Bread and Lemon Sauce.   

Hungry Happy Hippo Hotdogs - Preschooler Plays with Food and Learns the Alphabet!

Last night second-grader Lauren, preschooler Dave, and I constructed hungry happy hippo hotdogs for dinner. This fun food project was one installment in our weekly attempt to teach Dave the alphabet and ready him for kindergarten. Last night's letter of the week was 'H'. Dave drew upper and lower case 'H's and we all made exaggerated 'h' sounds in numerous words beginning with 'H'.

I admit to an ulterior motive for creating this game of hungry happy hippos out of hotdogs. Years ago, when I was a dog trainer, one strategy we used to stop unwanted canine behavior was to train the dog to perform the behavior on command, and once mastered, we would never give the command. Last night I decided to apply this tactic to stopping the 'G' for Gross table manners of my children. To train them not to play with their food, last night I attempted to put it on command.

I told them that after they ate their zucchini, they could make their own hungry happy hippos. As they ate, they watched me cut a bun-length hotdog in half cross-wise. I set aside one half for the body; the other half I cut into equal size pieces. The rounded end I used for the head. The other pieces I sliced length-wise and used one slice for each leg. To attach the legs and head to the body, I then broke toothpicks in half and used a half-toothpick to connect the head and each leg into the body. 

Eating Healthy in Wisconsin with Nutritious Sauerkraut Pork Chops

So you don't like sauerkraut? Is this because you didn't eat it as a child or because you did? Have you tried it baked with apples and brown sugar? Have you had it in a seasoned wine sauce? Did you ever try it mixed with hickory-smoked bacon and served smothered over pork chops? The following recipe combines all of these delicious flavors into one dish, humbly named: Sauerkraut Pork Chops. It comes from the cookbook, Foods That Made Wisconsin Famous, by Richard J. Baumann.

• 1/4 pound bacon (hickory smoked recommended)
• 6 loin pork chops about 1 inch thick
• 2 pounds sauerkraut, drained and rinsed
• 1 jar (15 ounces) chunky applesauce (regular is OK, but chunky is preferred)
• 1 Tablespoon brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon dry mustard
• 1/4 cup dry white wine (or champagne)
• Dash pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon paprika

Dice bacon and saute until crisp; drain on absorbent paper. Saute pork chops separately until golden brown on both sides. Mix diced bacon, sauerkraut, applesauce, brown sugar, dry mustard, wine, and pepper. Place 1/2 of the sauerkraut mixture in bottom of shallow 9x12 -inch casserole. Place pork chops on top of mixture and cover chops with remaining sauerkraut mixture. Sprinkle with paprika. Cover and bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour.

So you like the other ingredients in this recipe, but you're still skeptical about the sauerkraut. "Why risk mucking up the pork with sauerkraut?" you ask. "Aren't green beans a safer bet?" I do have a wonderful recipe for pork chops and green beans which someday I'll post. But that recipe is not nearly as nutritious as this one.

Nutritiondata.com gives sauerkraut a 4+ star nutrition rating. Sauerkraut is low in cholesterol and fat, and a good source of calcium, magnesium, vitamins: C, K, B6 and folate, and minerals: iron, potassium, copper and manganese. It is also an excellent source of dietary fiber. Wikipedia describes how the fermentation process of cabbage works to produce sauerkraut rich in lactobacilli. Lactobacilli are beneficial bacteria found in yogurt and are often prescribed to combat harmful bacterial infections.

Because of its nutrition and long shelf-life, sauerkraut has been a staple food of peoples in northern climates for centuries. From Germany to northern China our ancestors survived and prospered with fermented cabbage.

But beyond nutrition, let's get practical. A jar of sauerkraut is every harried cook's standby veggie.