Tag Archives: food

Pizza, Twinkies, Chocolate Milk

Posted on March 8, 2016 | Leave a comment

I was an athlete in high school. Captain of the gymnastic team for both years until I graduated with a small scholarship. All the “lunch ladies” knew me and I greeted them daily. Above was my meal of choice.

A slice of pizza, package of Twinkies and a pint of chocolate milk. There was a juke box in the cafeteria and we used to listen to The Beach Boys. At home I bought and listened to Beatles, Bob Dylan, Three Dog Night, Dave Mason, Bad Company, Joan Baez and others.

In college they promised gymnastics and never delivered. There, in the caf, I ate chocolate cereal with chocolate milk for breakfast until I moved to the apartments and cooked for many others. Only dinner, no chocolate. I should have learned how to make a proper mole. Perhaps all these years later I’d have it right, but not right enough to serve Chef Rick Bayless.

Baking is a non-starter for me. My mother and sisters always excelled at that area of expertise. I chose cooking. Of course I make a berry trifle that guests love and certain ones ask for every New Years’ Day, and have kids over to make graham cracker/vanilla yogurt/berry parfaits for their family. I also have kids over for pizza parties and the dough is done but they have to roll it out and have pre-made toppings to consider and before bedtime they must make their own dough to put in their own bowl and place in their frig to roll out tomorrow. Bread pudding, I can do that. Mincemeat tarts.

I do love cooking, probably for over fifty years. I peeled carrots when I was eight and placed them in ice water in the frig. They curled up. What a great science experiment! Papa was there that summer. We called him “summer Santa” because I think he bought me and my sister roller skates that year, the kind you clip on over your sneakers. Mind you, we lived on a highway via a 1/4 mile dirt road and we were not allowed to use them in the house. Oh, because I made them, he called them “suicide carrots” as he did anything else I tried.

Neighbors had an old dog, Tory, who used to come visit. He wasn’t allowed indoors but I’d feed him. It took him a day to come down the 1/4 mile drive, he’d stay for six days then walk back. On our childhood adventures with our neighbors I’d tell them Tory was with us and it was OK with them, they knew.

I was never a horse lady, but am the dog lady and have been since I was six months old. And I’m a cook and planning meals for this weekend. Dee

Leave a comment

Posted in Editorial, Pet

Tagged ,

Absolutely Not!

Posted on December 17, 2015 | Leave a comment

We live in a very nice building with a great view and wonderful staff. I heard they were having a company-wide party this evening.

I am one of the only residents who cooks, so I make them food year-round. Today I asked if I made a trifle, would they like it for the holiday party tonight?

Absolutely not! These were the best words I could have heard today, second to my husband telling me he loves me. Why not? This is staying right here for the eight of us, not 100 ravenous party-goers who will eat it up in two minutes!

I strayed from past years and made my own version with panettone, raspberries, blackberries and I made my own whipped cream with a touch of vanilla and cognac. I hope they like it. I sweetened the deal with a pretty bowl full of Satsuma tangerines. I should have soaked the panettone in some tangerine juice. Next time.

Sometimes they like everyone’s Aunt Dee! A new neighbor I’ve cared for and am still healing from taking care of him is puppy H. We saw him in the hall last night. He jumped up on me and I fended off his needle-teeth bites until I looked down at my hands and both were covered in blood. It was a tiny snaggletooth, teeny bandage overnight and it’s good as new today. Badge of honor. Do I get the Silver Star for that? Nah, he’ll be a great dog with training and out of pain from teething.

Anyway, the next time someone says “absolutely not” wait for the next sentence. They may just say your food is so good they won’t share it! Happy holidays. Dee

Leave a comment

Posted in Recipe Ideas

Tagged ,

Home

Posted on October 15, 2015 | 2 comments

Every website has a “home” but we have a home. A real home, not one on a blog or somewhere in cyberspace. We have a home.

Our home does not trick us into “contact us,” it’s just home where you make dinner and breakfast and take out the dog. Hang out in your pj’s and watch old movies.

Home to me is my best friend, my husband, flying in for the weekend and hanging out with me and our dog. I make him great food and we relax and enjoy the company and he gets to sleep in. I’ve got the dog, out, food, bed. I’m awake now, for good as she’s already got my side of the bed. Now that’s home!

Tomorrow I’ve some lovely potatoes to roast. Also a beef Carbonnade with onions, bacon and beer. I’ll look for some nice tomatoes at the market for a salad.

I miss him. It’s only four days this week. Seven months last year, I do miss him but just told him on the phone that I sleep much better when he’s gone! He inadvertently touches the dog, she jumps off the bed, comes over to my side and whines to get up. Me, Otis the Elevator Operator gets up, lifts her back and I get no sleep.

That’s home. Perhaps I’ll try pancakes or corn cakes for breakfast Saturday. Sausages sound good. Or my corn pudding with chorizo, a hit everywhere. I still don’t have menus together for Saturday and Sunday night. We’ll see. After all, we’re home. Re-runs, anyone? Food and movies. Dee

2 Comments

Posted in Editorial

Tagged , ,

Crazy Shopping/Epic Culinary Errors

Posted on October 8, 2015 | 1 comment

This morning I drove down a one-way street to a particular grocery store, parked in an alleyway behind it (not much is free parking-wise here) and the alley was blocked by two trucks, each way.

Thank goodness, because the produce section was bursting with freshness and deals. I’ve just rinsed a pint of strawberries that I’m planning to take downstairs to share with the staff who keep me alive every day. Once they dry I plan to add a bit of Meyer lemon zest, juice, and a sprinkling of raw organic sugar. From Dee.

I was supposed to get berries and cereal for my husband, who returns tomorrow from a business trip, two weeks. I got the berries, two pints for $3 so am keeping one. No cereal. I found Lyle’s Golden Syrup, nobody carries that these days. It was my mother’s favorite, on toast. I use it in marinades and will do so today, chicken wings.

Then I found mincemeat. No, it’s not meat, it used to have suet in it. Mom made mincemeat tarts every year for Christmas. I now make them and they are a staple on Nanny’s 50-dessert table every Thanksgiving. Actually my mother-in-law makes the pastry and I fill the tarts and cut out little Texas stars and hearts for the tops. I have “hot hands” that are good for unmolding cold things, but if I even look at chocolate or butter, it melts. Don’t even talk to me about copiers.

So I started grabbing a few things not on my list. Check out mincemeat on the blog. My brother, in NYC, went everywhere to try to get mincemeat, and was even told to get a taxi to New Jersey! He looked it up online and what was the first thing that popped up? Cooking With Dee. He never knew I had a blog or wrote about mincemeat. I called Amazon and got two jars sent directly to Dad so my brother wouldn’t have to carry them on the plane.

As I could not leave because the alleyway was still blocked, I dropped off groceries in the car and headed across the street looking for two bottles of brown ale. I did find them, called Old Brown Dog from New Hampshire and showed the proprietor my card that sports a photo of my old brown dog! What a morning.

* * *

As to the ale, I’m making Beef Carbonnade for my husband’s return. Usually Friday night is Pizza Night but that’s too much last-minute work and he’s only home for the weekend. Beef in the style of the charcoal maker: beef; onions; bacon; and beer. I brown everything starting with bacon, onions, then beef, all separate (beef is tossed in seasoned flour beforehand). Then add the beer and simmer on the stove or in the oven for about three hours, stirring every once in a while. I serve it over pappardelle noodles that just need a few moments to cook. It’s one of his favorite dishes and the weather is feeling like fall.

I think I’ll write epic failures on another post. You must be snoring away already! Dee

1 Comment

Posted in Editorial

Tagged , ,

Heat and Light

Posted on January 13, 2015 | 5 comments

Both are things we treasure in cold weather, especially as I witnessed a first ice fisher out there today, only a few feet from the jetty as the ice is thin.

We also treasure it in inspiration. I don’t remember cooking before age seven when I miraculously found a cookbook in a dusty village library while my mother was off to the grocery store.

The first recipe I ever cooked was from that book, Betty Crocker’s Boys and Girls Cookbook. It was curled carrots. I sliced carrots thinly, and placed them in ice water in the frig. Two hours later I took them out to serve. My grandfather was visiting at the time and he called them “suicide carrots.” Such was the beginning of my culinary life. Everything I cooked he thought he’d die from ingesting.

I wanted my grandfather, parents, siblings, friends and everyone to like me. I learned to cook. Perhaps the best thing my father liked was a cassoulet I made for him from Simca Beck’s recipe many years ago. I would love to make it for him again, with my brother, with two days in the kitchen and items from France I didn’t have. Or we could make it Italian. He may like it even better.

Aunts L and J were also wonderful mentors in cooking and proper English. They still love food and create food for those in need of a good meal, as volunteers.

I was devastated when my husband loved my ten minute (check blog) vegetarian lasagne more than my four-hour version with long-cooked Bolognese and boiled noodles. Then I realized if I made lasagne in ten minutes and cooked it for an hour we’d have more time together.

Lasagne = love? Food, sharing, togetherness, conversation, a toast, that is love. With my berry trifle, it’s also decadence.

As to food I’ve a final exam to pass. Our Swedish neighbor G taught me to make Kottbullar, Swedish meatballs, for us and my husband a few months ago and now I have to take the test and make it for him.

My challenge to Swedish G is true Texas chili, my riff on a classic 1962 recipe from Lady Bird Johnson that was served on the Pedernales ranch for 5,000 guests including JFK.

He’ll have to grind the meat, saute the onions and garlic, add spices and try it three hours later. Then he’ll have his test a couple of weeks later and make it for me. Food is love, darlin’. My husband loves G’s Kottbullar.

My view on life is that if anyone of any nationality or faith met another of a differing one and cooked and sat at a meal together there would not be wars.

Food is friendship, food is love, taste and sharing an experience. I am a complex person and use words to opine, not swards, guns or bombs. I think we spend a lot of our tax dollars for “diplomats” to dine with representatives of other nations. The food may be good but perhaps it is not enjoyed with the camaraderie that best represents our countries.

Savor. Let’s have presidents, princes, diplomats dig in a garden for their meal, together. Cook it, together, and serve, family style to their people. That may actually lead to a representative democracy here in the US of A. and may help other nations as well.

Early on my heat was an Easy Bake Oven. I used it three times. Cooking with a light bulb? Come on. From there I saw light. Thank you, everyone, for getting me here. Cheers! Dee

5 Comments

Posted in Editorial

Tagged , , , , , , ,

Food and Care and Writing

Posted on November 2, 2014 | Leave a comment

Yes, I’ve been remiss on the latter. So much so an old friend called me the other day because I’d missed a few days of blogs.  I’ve been ill and no-one was here to help me out because we’ve agreed for my husband to take a consulting contract elsewhere for a short term.

Food has always been a key ingredient in my existence and I realize its potential for sustenance, health, fun, entertaining and creativity. Care is something I’ve always specialized in, something that always lets me know that I’m making a worthwhile effort.

I made killer chicken wings the other day and sent a few out for taste tests. Now I only have to find my “seat of the pants” recipe for all y’all. It included soy sauce, Indonesian (sweet) soy sauce, mirin, sesame oil, chili and garlic paste, sriracha and honey. Plus finely grated garlic and ginger. Proportions, I know.

The wings were marinated in the frig for a day, extra wing discarded and big two separated. Oven to 375, place wings on sprayed foil on cookie sheet(s). Cook for 30 minutes while you reduce marinade to a syrupy glaze. Glaze the wings, ten more minutes in the oven and you’ve juicy, tasty wings.

Now all I have to do for you it test it a number of times and give you both the exact marinade/glaze and one that accounts for if you don’t have Indonesian soy sauce. I’ll get to it but you may want to try your own, with salty, sweet, hot flavors.

There’s a lot going on here. I’m not cooking as much, or writing. I miss my husband, who I haven’t seen in two months. Let’s hope that will be corrected very soon. Cheers, Dee

ps Thank you old friend, for checking in on me. I’m glad you and our buddies are doing well. You protected me the first night of college orientation and you’re still with me decades later. I believe the rule is that if there are no bars toward women in your fraternity via articles and bylaws, when certain women have married in or achieved exalted status they should become honorary members at age 50. No shaving of heads, no paddles. Think about it.

 

Leave a comment

Posted in Editorial

Tagged , , , ,

Punting

Posted on December 26, 2013 | 4 comments

We heard on Christmas Eve that family from 1,200 miles away may be coming for a visit. They planned on Friday. Yikes. Then they called this morning and said they’d be here this afternoon.

Oh, my! I didn’t even have my “to do” list started on paper, it was in my head, but no menu or shopping or anything. So here I am awaiting a call and tidying up. Haven’t combed the dog yet, yes Miss Tumbling Tumbleweeds.

I made a list for my husband and called the butcher to have an identical steak to the one we ordered for Christmas day cut and ready to go (they like me, I bring them chili).

Not to worry. I am the Mary Poppins of the day. I’ve a week’s worth of dinner menus planned. Also, a list of the most interesting things our young nephew would like to see. And though we’ve one video game he loves and has almost mastered (age-appropriate) we’d rather he see ice fishermen, old pump house equipment, a science museum and flight museum and sled down the big hill after building a cardboard sled with his Uncle Jim.

Yes, we punt and enjoy family for the few days a year we get to see them. This will be a special treat. Also a challenge as this good cook has a picky eater on her hands and I’ll have to do some Auntie L trickery to hide things he hates (he’s not allergic to anything) and ask him to try it first, then I’ll tell him what’s in it. Culinarily yours, Dee

4 Comments

Posted in Editorial

Tagged , , ,

Pizza

Posted on September 23, 2013 | Leave a comment

Here’s what I’d do for a veggie pizza and not.

You know my pizza dough recipe, right? I’ll assume you’re cooking for two. Please try to find a local Italian market for OO flour. It’s a dream to work with.

1/2 cup whole wheat flour

1 cup OO flour or unbleached white flour, plus more for rolling out

1/2 tsp. salt (I use kosher salt)

1/2 cup warm water

1/2 Tbsp yeast

1 tsp of your “bench flour”

pinch of sugar

In a measuring cup place your tepid water, teaspoon flour, pinch of sugar and yeast and let bloom. I like to add about a teaspoon of good olive oil.

In a food processor (I’m giving you the quick method, not the hands-on one or stand mixer version) with the steel blade place the flour and salt and mix.

Stir the yeast mixture and pour it in, not all at once. It all depends on temperature and mostly humidity. I usually have to add more water until it forms a non-sticky ball. 20 times around. Off. Go take the dog for a quick pee and come back. 25 times around, take out to a floured board or clean countertop and knead and make into a ball. Place into a bowl with a wet towel on top.

I place it in the microwave so it is not disturbed my me, the dog, air and mostly because it is off the counter. Do NOT turn on the microwave. Set your timer for 90 minutes. Take it out to a floured board or counter and knead again, make into a ball and place the bowl it was in over it, turned upside down of course, for 20 minutes. Roll out and you’re good to go.

 

For this pizza, my husband is not vegetarian but there were only a few tiny crust crumbs left. The OO flour gives this dough nearly the texture of a deep dish pizza crust without all the fat!

1/2 butternut squash, roasted 45 minutes to 1 hour, until soft, seasoned with S/P, and olive oil, face down on a baking sheet. May as well cook the whole thing and save half for later. Take it out of the skin and mash it. I added a bit of ancho chili powder to it for a nice kick.

That was your first layer. Next is 2-4 oz. of a good drier Mozzarella cheese, grated.

Then I sauteed some cavolo nero, also called Black Kale or Dinosaur Kale because of the leaf texture. The kids will love it. Add garlic if you like. That’s the next layer.

Crumbled feta cheese was the final layer, with a grind of fresh black pepper. I would love to cook my pizza in a wood-fired oven or at least 450 degree home oven but if I put my oven over 400 smoke alarms go off, not because the oven is dirty but the heat and design of our home makes it impossible to cook at a higher temperature.

Cook five minutes, turn around for another five. Take it out (potholders, kids) and place on a sturdy trivet for 3-5 minutes. Slide onto a cutting board, get out your pizza roller and cut it any way you want. Mangia bene! Thank you Epicurious for this idea!

Oh, for meat lovers, for the last two minutes in the oven add about four slices of (imported) proscuitto on top. If you don’t want to have a salad with it, add a few handfuls of baby arugula after you take it out of the oven. First, toss the greens with a bit of lemon juice and olive oil, salt and pepper, sprinkle over pizza then serve. Enjoy, dear reader. Dee

 

Leave a comment

Posted in Uncategorized

Tagged , , , , ,

Culinary Innovations

Posted on September 20, 2013 | 2 comments

This is on the QT, readers. It’s a synonym for “cleaning out the frig.” Don’t tell my husband, as he’s allergic to anything that grows or moves and leftovers do not hold a kind place in his great heart.

Except for culinary innovations, new dishes his dearest wife prepares with thought and care.

Yesterday I had a beautiful small butternut squash that I wanted to roast for a curried soup this weekend. A little olive oil, salt and pepper and it was ready to go, but that’s another story.

I had two perfect young carrots roasted the other day, and two potatoes baked when we decided to go out to dinner. I added a small onion and roasted all together, keeping the squash in for longer of course.

Then I cooked some stellette (little stars) while I chopped and sauteed all the veg, including some Campari tomatoes plus a piece of kielbasa I had in the frig. The pasta was drained and the rest placed on top and we had a new dish! He liked it and didn’t even want Parmigiano Reggiano on top!

It gives cooks everywhere hope that the word leftover is no longer a bad thing. I once told my mother-in-law that anytime we had leftovers he’d just say “let’s go out” and I asked what she did when he was a kid living in the country. “Eat your dinner.” ‘Nuff said. Except that my steak, cooked rare on the grill, makes his steak and eggs in the morning something special and he loves it.

As I only have seven blogs to go ’til 2,000 perhaps that’s an idea. It is unfortunately one, after he reads this, that my husband will not embrace. Grandma’s Wisdom? Putting together things that are home cooked and renewing them for another day. It’s not Sandra Lee with a box of this and can of that. It’s good home-cooked food that is re-invented.

Oh, he’ll read this tomorrow and  really hate it and won’t help me change over if I decide to do it! We’ll see. I’d still keep the stories and family and politics in it, whatever the concept. But I may be away for a few weeks so y’all take care. Dee

2 Comments

Posted in Editorial, Recipe Ideas

Tagged , , , ,

Goals

Posted on September 6, 2013 | 2 comments

I am retiring this blog at 3,000 posts. There are fewer than 30 to go. Should I stay on WordPress? What can I write about that will interest you?

If I stay on WP should I bring over some recipes and the Pantry and Cookbook series? I had it in my mind to quit at 2,000 and yes, I’ve heard about that. Now it’s 3K and a done deal. Pantry and Cookbook and How to Eat a Concord Grape are my mainstays.

Writing keeps me thinking and creating, just as finishing crossword puzzles is another item in my day that makes me happy.

My husband returns from a business trip today. I need to find something for dinner. Now I need to ask him to switch blogs. I’ve a solution, find the right person to help me do it, it’s like you really don’t want your dad to teach you how to drive. If we have a plan, someone else can make it a reality. Brilliant. Thanks, you already helped! Dee

 

 

2 Comments

Posted in Editorial

Tagged , , , , ,