Edible Antics - Having Fun With Food

Devil Dog Strikes Halloween Party Cake: Pumkin Changes Into Midnight Moon; Get The Recipe

All right dogs, LINE UP! Reader can you guess which transgressing hound pilfered the pumpkin cake? Was it old dog, Sam or puppy Tao? If you've read previous posts, you'll remember that Tao's aka is El Diablo. Yes, it was the devil himself, caught red-handed, with paws on the counter and full muzzle in the cake. Perhaps it was fitting that the devil visited my kitchen as I baked party food for Halloween. The devil distracted me with his own dog hair he had shed across the carpet. Busy vacuuming, I had left the pumpkin cake on the counter to cool. El Diablo duped me into thinking that my little pooch was actually on the way to good behavior. Minutes earlier he had seemed to obey my "Leave it" command and ceased lunging at and biting the vacuum cleaner bag. But that gesture in doggie decorum was just a ploy to conceal his nefarious intentions. Satisfied that I was busy elsewhere, he struck at the cake.

My pumpkin cake was going to be frosted to look like a pumpkin. But now, once again I'd have to chant my life's mantra, "It's not how far you fall, it's how well you bounce." I'd have to come up with an alternative Halloween cake. And so this was the simple story of how my pumpkin cake turned into a midnight moon cake on Halloween. Click on "continue reading..." for the pictures and cake recipe which is really a recipe for pumpkin bars.

Snacking On Spiced Pumpkin Cookies At Horicon Marsh; A Fun Fall Thing To Do In Wisconsin

Some may say I slacked yesterday in my food-blogging profession; I should have been at the 8th annual Madison Food and Wine Show. THE finest gourmet food producers in Wisconsin were there, exhibiting their one-of-a-kind, state-of-the-food-world-art delicacies. But most of these I can easily find through my work on Wisconsinmade.com.

So, I decided instead to immerse myself completely in the Slow-Food Movement. In fact, I went beyond slow. I participated with food in reverse. I interacted with food moving away rather than toward the table. In short, I startled geese and ducks at Wisconsin's Horicon Marsh Wildlife Refuge. And let me note, this table fowl can move amazingly fast. But most of the time that I watched, it didn't. After making dramatic splash landings on the marsh, the Canada geese pretty much lazed around socializing with peers. The ducks were more active. The shovelers, pintails, scaup, grebes, buffleheads, and of course mallards, were in their characteristic feeding pose, - you know the one: "When it's sups for ducks, it's bottoms up!" The fastest-moving birds were in the flocks of blackbirds tearing through the sky, which is why we don't eat them, -they're too hard to catch.  But Horicon Marsh is more than a poultry smorgasbord. Complimentary side foods were strewn about the grassy and woodland trails; nuts of hickory and walnut lay near ripe apples. These apples were probably the fastest food to prepare available, but I didn't need them. I had packed a snack. It was a healthy autumn snack. I had a so-healthy-I-can't-believe-they-taste-so-good sort of snack. I had made Kay's spiced pumpkin cookies. Click on "Continue reading..." for the recipe and more about fun fall things to do in Wisconsin.

Frosted Sugar Cookies Add Fun To Children's Halloween Party

"If I were on a desert island and could only eat two foods, I'd choose these Halloween cookies and vanilla ice cream," said my 10-year-old. And she said this while nibbling an un-frosted cookie that was brown and crispy as opposed to the majority which turned out that wonderful creamy color of the classic sugar cookie.  Children love sugar cookies! And this is why this sugar cookie recipe is introduced with, "Norwegian, Scottish, Irish, Bohemian, German --just about every European ethnic group that settled Wisconsin had some version of the sugar cookie." The recipe, simply titled, Sugar Cookies, came from the cookbook, The Flavor of Wisconsin: An informal history of food and eating in the Badger state, written by Harva Hachten and Terese Allen.

To make these simple and delicious cookies fun for our children's Halloween party, I frosted them with Helen Myhre's "basic powdered sugar frosting" recipe from her Wisconsin cookbook, The Norske Nook: Farm recipes and food secrets from the Norske Nook, the Midwest's #1 roadside cafe. Click on "Continue reading..." for these sugar cookie and frosting recipes.

You Say It's Split-Pea Soup Bubbling In That Cauldron, But Show Me The Recipe

I'm not much of a soup person. I've made chicken soup three times in my life; the first was inedible, similar in texture and smell to well-used dish water. The second was suggestive of chicken soup and obligatorily ingested on its initial appearance at the table. The third I actually liked. My dad said he recognized that it was homemade; not sure what he meant. But my kids ate it and said they liked it after I added left-over, double-noodle Campbell's chicken noodle soup into it. You see, I can make Campbell's soups now. Today I understand that you have to mix a can of water in with the broth. It's not at all like cooking casseroles with Campbell's soups which don't demand such unintuitive diluting.

So given my soup-making history, my children were as surprised as I when I told them the bubbling, green liquid in the cauldron on the stove stop was split-pea soup. I'd never made split-pea soup before. And since I don't often even eat soups, I was definitely acting strangely out of character. Furthermore, when my children peered into the black pot, they noticed the shreds of pink ham separating from that large ham bone. The striations in the ham made it look so realistically like flesh from a different species. Convinced that I'd added happy-orange carrots to deceive innocents of this "soup's" wicked purposes, the children eyed my soup-stirring movements with suspicion. They conferred on the possibility that my brew was much more devious than "split-pea soup". To me, however, they didn't say much as they hung the Halloween decorations; they knew better. 

But was it really split-pea soup? Click on "Continue reading..." and I'll show you the recipe.

The North Woods Cottage Cookbook: Recipes For People Too Busy At Work Or Play To Cook

Jerry Minnich's The North Woods Cottage Cookbook was on the kitchen counter Saturday morning because this mid-October weekend was dedicated to yard work. To dismantle the garden fencing, compost the dead plants, drain and coil the hoses, mow up the fallen leaves, check the gutters, put away the lawn furniture, gather the yard-strewn children's toys, and generally install some pre-winter order on the little patch of Earth surrounding our house required food that would literally cook itself. And Jerry's cookbook is filled with recipes for meals that do just that. Of course, Jerry's intention in writing these recipes was far removed from supporting a Puritan work ethic. Jerry had pure pleasure in mind when he wrote the cookbook to aid fellow Wisconsin-northwoods-leisure enthusiasts. Many of his recipes are for foods you pop into the oven or on to the stove top and leave for hours while you go off in your boat. He also has recipes for hearty entrees that are quick and simple enough to make when happy hour is over and a bunch of very happy, hungry people are standing in your kitchen offering to help.

But it was the first group of recipes I was interested in. I had looked to Jerry to suggest a meal that would make itself. And as if on queue, Jerry had written in big, bold print, "Don't forget the ham!" Yes! A large, bone-in ham slowly bakes in the oven. When you take it out hours later all you need do is slice it. And a large bone-in ham looks impressive too. So Friday night had I baked a ham knowing that we would now be set with easy left-overs and ham sandwiches all weekend. Next post I'll tell you about the split pea soup I made with that ham bone.

But first, Chronos dictates I give Saturday morning's popover recipe. Popovers? Yes, when my 10-year-old and budding chef said she wanted to bake something at 7:30 on Saturday morning, I wondered what breakfast recipe would be easy and relatively healthy. My daughter suggested sweet muffins, but my taste buds (not to mention my hips) are still reeling from all that zucchini and pumpkin bread we'd been making. That's when I opened Jerry's cookbook on the counter and found his popover recipe. Yes, true to form for this cookbook, the recipe required no unusual ingredients and was easy enough for a 10-year-old and a pre-occupied mother to bake. Click on "Continue reading..." for the easy popover recipe in Jerry Minnich's The North Woods Cottage Cookbook.

Parents' Ways To Get Kids To Eat Healthy Foods: Cheesy Topping Tricks

Many parents have figured out ways to get kids to eat healthy foods, and one common way is trickery. I won't call it complete deceit; the meal's healthy food is nearly always evident, just...let's call it... unobtrusively disguised. Yes, I confess, this parent regularly tricks her children into eating healthy meat and vegetables by hiding them. The butternut squash and apple bake I described in the previous post is a good example. The healthy squash was sandwiched between a layer of apples, and a cornflake-sugar-pecan topping. Both topping and apples blended in with the squash's vibrant orange making it less noticeable. A child might think, "Hey, if I like what's on top and what's on the bottom, and everything looks more or less the same, then I might like what's in the middle." True, savvy kids aren't so easily fooled. They use counter-tactics such as picking and poking at their food to discover and dislodge offensive vegetables from their concealment, but parents usually get a bite or two of healthy vegetable into their children before the vegetable's revealed.  

One easy vegetable topping which I grew up with is a mix of fine bread-crumbs toasted in butter and poured over zucchini or cauliflower. A great meatloaf disguiser is cranberry topping. My kids actually ask for this one! A friend long ago recommended burying asparagus beneath Velveeta...but in Wisconsin we can do better. My friend has a point though, cheese is the ultimate disguiser of healthy meat and vegetables. Click on "Continue reading..." for some cheesy ideas.

Tips On How To Cook A Traditional Thanksgiving Turkey Dinner With 21st-Century Ovens

While my kids rev-up for Halloween, I'm preparing for Thanksgiving. I know, anticipation of one dinner in November's 4Th week seems absurd, but as most of you cooks understand, Thanksgiving is the most difficult meal of the year. The Thanksgiving turkey dinner is the only meal that has a prescribed list of foods. Tradition has determined the entree, side-dishes, and desserts, and all of these compete for time to be baked in a single oven.

How did we get ourselves into this ridiculous cooking situation? I believe the fault lays with technology. In the 18th-century, meals were cooked over large hearths. A grand animal could be roasted in the center while multiple pots hung at the sides, simmering their contents. Additional foods were simultaneously baked in chambers within the hearth stone. Some of the cooking, especially the roasting, was even done outside over a woodfire. In the 19th-century, our fore-mothers cooked Thanksgiving dinner on multi-chambered woodstoves. Most women were highly adept at controlling varying heat levels in each chamber. And meanwhile the large bird may have been smoked or roasted outside.

Click on "Continue reading..." for more of the story and a great recipe for butternut squash and apple bake.

Gender-Differences In Wisconsin Gardening Before A Killing Frost? Plus A Relish Recipe To Use Up Green Tomatoes

Something peculiar occurred in my part of the world this weekend. I wonder if it's a statistical fluke or if there really is a gender difference in the way in which people respond to the forecast of impending winter. A common conversation-starter around here was, "I hear (heard) we're going to have a killing frost this weekend." And when I used this opener, my women friends all responded something like this:  "Yeah, I heard that too."

"But I'm such a slacker; I didn't bring my patio plants in."

"Me neither. I've been so busy these past few weeks that at this point, I just don't care about the plants any more. I'd planned to over-winter 'em, but I'm just lettin' 'em die."

"Yeah, me too. Instead of picking all my green tomatoes before the freeze I mended my daughter's shirt while we watched kid-TV together. She came home Friday afternoon saying she had to dress like an insect for the school dance at 6:00 so I had to mend her yellow shirt. I hadn't planned on slacking on the garden, but my child had to metamorphose."

"Oh, I know how that goes. Last week I bought sale-perennials and haven't even gotten 'em planted yet. But at least (fill in the blank name of husband) went out and picked the last of the peppers and the tomatoes. (Disappointed sigh.) Now I just have to freeze those."

It's that last line about the husband which is so curious. Of my friends it was the men in their lives who did the last minute harvesting. For example, my friend and I were driving home Saturday when her husband called to ask if I wanted a stalk of their garden Brussels sprouts. He'd busied himself picking squash and digging onions while we'd blown the whole garden bit off to take an autumn walk with another woman friend who likewise was blowing off her garden. And I have more friends than these; my other women friends were similarly un-engaged with they're gardens. What was going on? Click on "continue reading..."for my hypothesis.

WI Debate About Feeding Kids Healthy School Lunches: A Mom And A Lunchroom Chef Face Same Problems

The return of students to school in the fall re-starts the debate about feeding kids healthy school lunches. Some people consider "healthy school lunch" an oxymoron. And serious efforts are underway across Wisconsin to improve the nutritional value of the lunch food served in Wisconsin's public schools. Emphasis is placed on three general categories: lowering the lunches' sugar and fat content, increasing the variety of fruits and vegetables offered, and buying locally-produced foods. In other words, Wisconsinites want to get rid of the junk food, raise healthy lunches' nutritional value, and do it in ways that sustain Wisconsin's agricultural economy and our planet. I applaud these goals and share them.

But I also share the problems of the school lunch providers. Like our school districts, my number one challenge is cost-control. I have trouble affording a regular diet of organic and locally-grown food. Our ends wouldn't meet if I only bought organic foods at our farmers' markets. I have to make choices. Right now the choices are tending toward eating more vegetarian meals while saving up the meat money for a few meals of free-range chicken. I realize that this culinary lifestyle is exactly what people adamant about sustainable agriculture advise, but still, to this grain-fed, Midwestern girl, it feels like a sacrifice, - a sacrifice I'm not always willing to make.

Playing With Food In Wisconsin - Pumkin Fun And Games...And Pumpkin Bread

We've been playing with our food again. Specifically, we've been painting pumpkins, - it's the fall canvas of choice in Wisconsin. Rick Kringle of Wisconsinmade.com and his elf accomplice made a midnight delivery of miniature painted pumpkins to kick-off the holiday season. We take this as a good sign that he'll be back delivering kringles in December.

At the 4-H club meeting last night, members painted pumpkins and decorated them with glitter, felt, and stickers. It was a grand mess. All had a good time. Other Wisconsin pumpkin games include loading pumpkins into catapults and casting them into lakes and fields. A surprising amount of joy comes from watching overgrown squash fly through the air. Not sure I can explain its mesmerization, but we Wisconsinites line up to watch. Definitely a good time.

Meanwhile, others of us have been cooking with pumpkin and sharing our results. Rick Kringle's elf brought pumpkin fudge into the office. Cheers for pumpkin fudge were mixed. I liked it! Our resident chocoholic didn't, -some of us are purists. It all comes down to how much one likes pumpkin. I do!!

The other morning I made my first pumpkin dish of the season. I baked pumpkin bread, -(me and everyone else, I suppose). Sure, pumpkin bread is a standard fall comfort food, but that's because it tastes great. I don't understand why most of us don't make it year round, (probably because we're still trying to eat up all that zucchini bread we made and froze). This time I used Helen Myhre's recipe. She makes my favorite zucchini bread, so I turned to her for pumpkin bread. Click on "Continue reading..." for Helen's pumpkin bread recipe. You'll also find it in her cookbook, Farm Recipes and Food Secrets from the Norske Nook: The Midwest's #1 Roadside Cafe.