I went to the farmers’ market on Sunday morning and found some unbelievable strawberries and fresh spinach. My first thought was “Smoothies!” But then I came up with another option.
The big question was dressing. We don’t eat a lot of salads, so we don’t have dressing just sitting around waiting to be eaten. and I have never really gotten into vinaigrettes. But a quick search turned up a recipe that sounded good, and I remembered that I do have balsamic vinegar.
I washed a couple of handfuls of spinach and used the recipe I’d found to make a quick dressing: I splashed balsamic vinegar, a little honey, and some olive oil into a bowl and microwaved it quickly to make it easier to blend. Then I tossed the spinach in the dressing and microwaved it again to wilt the spinach.
After that, I sliced a few strawberries on top of the spinach and added some goat cheese and walnut pieces. And voila!
One year, when I lived in New Jersey, my alumni club went apple-picking. It was the first time I’d gone, and I went a bit overboard in terms of variety and quantity. In an attempt to put them to use, I began baking. And since I lived alone, I took what I baked to the office. After a couple of days, one of my co-workers sent me an email that said, “This is a lot of baking. Is everything okay?”
I answered, “Yes. I just have a lot of apples.” And she said, “Well, then, keep baking.”
Thanks to the wonders of the internet, I found a couple of recipes that I liked, including an apple walnut coffee cake–I should make that again someday–and apple bread. And it turned out that I wasn’t the only one who liked it. I sent a loaf to my brother at his office (the most reliable destination for packages at that point). And when I called him to ask about something else, the department assistant said, “Are you the one who sent him that apple bread? Every time I walk by his office, it smells so good.”
I said, “Tell him I said to give you some of it,” and she said, “You know, I think I will.”
She did, and it turned out that my brother liked it so much that it’s become a fall staple. If we’re together for Thanksgiving–unfortunately, we weren’t this year–I make a loaf and take it with me. I’ve been known to send it to him and my sister-in-law, although this year we’ve had so much going on with Baguette that I didn’t manage to get that done.
However, it turns out that the mother of one of Baguette’s friends is having Baby #2 a little ahead of schedule–but with enough time to share some freezer food with her. So today, I’m making apple bread.
Ingredients
1-1/2 cups flour
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. baking powder
cinnamon and nutmeg to taste (I use a lot)
1/2 cup vegetable oil
3/4 cup sugar
2 eggs
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1 cup peeled and chopped apple
Instructions
1. Grease and flour a loaf pan and preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
2. Sift together flour, salt, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, and nutmeg.
3. In a bowl, mix oil and sugar. Add egg and vanilla.
4. Combine dry and liquid ingredients.
5. Stir in apples. Pour into prepared pan.
6. Bake 50–60 minutes.
Cool completely on wire rack before removing from pan.
We bought a giant thing of Bisquick at Costco, because Baguette was loving pancakes and we weren’t loving the frozen ones.
I know, Bisquick doesn’t really save time. Except that yes, it does. So I’m using it (after all, we have so very much of it). Their regular recipe is fine, and their “Ultimate Pancake” recipe is better, but I’ve been wanting to make pumpkin bread for ages. Since that takes too long, I made pumpkin pancakes. (No pictures, because I didn’t take any–but they did look pretty.)
A lot of the recipes seem pretty similar; I started with this one from Food.com and changed it up, to get the following:
Ingredients
2 cups Bisquick
2 Tablespoons light brown sugar
1 Tablespoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1-1/4 cups milk
1 egg
2 teaspoons vanilla
1/2 cup pumpkin puree (not pumpkin pie filling)
2 teaspoons maple syrup
Instructions
Blend the dry ingredients in a large bowl. In a separate bowl, combine the milk, egg, pumpkin, and maple syrup and add to dry ingredients. Be careful not to over-mix.
Cook ’em like they’re pancakes. Eat them. Also like they are pancakes.
What is fake minestrone? Well, for starters, it’s not made from scratch.
I like soup, but I don’t like canned soup. So I try to make my own, but I don’t always have time to make it from scratch. In fact, I rarely have time.
Fortunately, there’s middle ground.
Bring a box and a half of low-sodium chicken broth to a boil. Add a couple of handfuls of elbow macaroni and cook for six minutes. Lower heat to a simmer.
Add frozen meatballs and cook until heated through.
Add frozen vegetables and cook until heated through.
Strain a can of diced tomatoes and mix in. Cook (can you guess?) until heated through.
Ladle into bowls and top with grated parmesan.
So there are meatballs, and no beans, and no leafy greens. And yes, I know that minestrone recipes vary widely across Italy–but I’m pretty sure Italian cooks aren’t making it from boxes and cans and the freezer. But on a night when you want something tasty and nutritious and easy, this gets the job done on all counts.
I’ve always been a little conflicted about that story. Sure, the villagers were miserly with their food stores. So you can read it as the story of how a traveler convinced them to open up and be a community.
But can’t you also read it as the story of someone who entered a town, tricked everyone into eating the last of their food, and then left a starving village behind?
Fortunately, one of the main points of the story doesn’t involve trickery at all. It simply involves using what you have available.
The other night, I wanted to make soup. In the freezer, I found chicken stock and a variety of frozen vegetables–peas, corn, and spinach, in this case. And in a jar on the counter, I found what I think was linguini (I’m not sure why we had it, since we tend to buy capellini, and since I am not terribly well-versed in pasta varieties, it might have been something other than linguini).
Now, if I’m shopping to make vegetable soup, I might include carrots and bell peppers. But I didn’t have time to go to the store, so I used what I had on hand.
I put the stock in a pot and added some water (I hadn’t thawed enough stock, I realized after the fact). When it came to a boil, I added the vegetables and broke the linguini into smaller pieces. Once everything was hot and the pasta had softened, I added some salt and pepper–you could, of course, add any other spices you want, but I kept it simple this time.
What have you got on hand? And what can you do with it?
I bought a bag of 10-minute farro at Trader Joe’s. Preparing it is super easy: You boil it for 10 minutes, and drain. That is all. And then you have a big bowl of farro, which you can use in a host of ways (substitute it for rice, for example).
Also, you can do this:
Put farro in a bowl.Top with plain Greek-style yogurt and drizzle with honey.Add berries.
Farro, yogurt, honey, and berry parfait. Tons of nutrition, incredibly easy, and delicious.
Also very portable (although I’d probably put the farro in a separate container to keep it from getting soggy, and then assemble this at work).
We seem to be having an Endless Summer in California right now, even if you’re not a surfer. But that doesn’t even matter, because in California, grilled food is a year-round option.
What’s easier than grilling? Grilling using foil packs.
Two layers of foil. Potatoes sliced into 1/4-inch rounds (no need to peel them–just scrub well). Minced garlic and a mixture of butter and olive oil. Oh, and fresh rosemary, because our house came with a rosemary bush so enormous that there’s no using it up. But the dried stuff will work, too.
Wrap up that foil tightly and put the pack (or packs) on the grill for 25 minutes over a medium-high heat. Toward the end, put some sausages on the grill and cook for 5 minutes (these were pre-cooked sausages), turning occasionally.
Meanwhile, put broccoli florets and some salt and pepper into a steamer, and steam for six minutes.
Enjoy.
Oh, and set some aside for leftovers. Instant lunch.
You know that thing? The one where the people you love make your eyes roll extra hard?
Yesterday afternoon, my father-in-law calls to ask if we want to join them for dinner. “It’s too hot to eat here,” he says, “So we can go out.”
To Burger King.
Because they have coupons.
Mr. Sandwich’s family is made up entirely of fitness nuts. His dad will comment on someone’s BMI and speculate on their resultant health at the drop of a hat. He once told me that he likes to offer ice cream bars as dessert, because a guest is less likely to ask for seconds.
At the same time, a coupon is a coupon. As Mr. Sandwich says, “My father has always had an appetite for a deal.”
Since we in fact have nothing planned for dinner, we take Baguette to the pool and then head across town (Again, we have been invited across town. To Burger King.) I call to let them know we’re en route, and Mr. Sandwich’s mother is delighted. She calls to Mr. Sandwich’s father to get out from under the car, which he is fixing.
Also, she hangs up just as I say, “We’ll meet you there.” So I call her back a few minutes later, and that turns out to be a good move, because she is startled that we are not coming by the house and then all driving over together.
I do not want to get Baguette in and out of the car an additional time. We say we will meet them at Burger King, and she tells me the intersection and says, “It’s next to the Subway and across from the McDonald’s.”
She also instructs me, “Don’t order until we get there. We have the coupons.”
McDonald’s is about two miles from their house, and is where they get “Senior Coffee” after their morning run. (My in-laws are in their late 70s and win their age divisions in races, so of course they run to McDonald’s).
McDonald’s is also home to the Big ‘n’ Tasty, which, as my father-in-law is fond of saying, is “just as good as In-n-Out.”
NO. NO, IT IS NOT.
We pull into the parking lot, and agree that while we may be waiting to order, we are not waiting to order for Baguette, who is the most likely of us to start screaming when she gets hungry. She screams, “Fash! Faaaaaash!” This means “hungry,” except for when it means something else, and I don’t know why either of those things is the case.
So we order chicken nuggets, fries, and milk for Baguette, who in short order bumps her milk and spills it on her fries, but thankfully is not upset by this turn of events, possibly because there are chicken nuggets to be had.
The woman at the counter says, “Is that all?” I answer, “We’re waiting for my in-laws” and think better of adding, “They have coupons!” because the woman at the counter seems very nice, and it’s not her fault that my in-laws are, um, extra quirky. So while I probably had a completely insane expression on my face, at least I didn’t say anything that went along with that.
I feel even better about it when my in-laws arrive, and it turns out that they are regulars at this Burger King. Apparently there is more than one place to go for Senior Coffee, and they come here so often that the staff gives them gifts.
Fortunately my father-in-law realizes that he cannot reasonably require us to confine our choices to the remaining unused coupons in his coupon book, and we order food that we suppose we’ll be okay with, because neither of us particularly likes Burger King, with or without coupons.
And it was, just as we anticipated, totally mediocre. It wasn’t bad–although I didn’t feel good afterward–it was just meh.
But it did remind me that I never wrote the final post about my Cheeseburger Challenge. So let me just skip to the end: Burger King has an edible small cheeseburger. Del Taco, a late entrant, turns out to do reasonably well (although theirs is priced a little higher). The winner, such as it is–and just as I thought it would be–is Wendy’s.
Based on how icky I felt after last night’s meal, though (and not just last night’s, but the last several fast-food meals), I think my next fast-food adventures will focus on a Salad Challenge.
This week’s prompt from Ginger at Ramble Ramble? Make us all hungry–what are your top 10 favorite foods (individual foods, or full meals, your choice)?
Well, I do love food. So here goes.
1) Steak. I don’t eat it often, but I do like it. My all-time favorite was the dry-aged New York Strip at the Chicago Chop House. But I’m certainly not going to turn down Fogo de Chao’s fraldinha or prime rib at Lawry’s. Or Ruth’s Chris. Or Morton’s. Mind you, I’ll need a gift card to go to any of these places. Oh, and while we’re on the subject–medium rare.
2) Ice cream. I’d meet my poorly identified weight and fitness goals more quickly if I stopped eating ice cream.
3) Potatoes. I love them so much, I once–no joke–gave them up for Lent.
4) Mu shu pork. This is one of my key comfort foods. I don’t need the pancakes.
5) Pancakes. Although I love them beyond mu shu. I’m still working on my perfect recipe, but that’s okay, because it means I get to eat pancakes.
6) Chocolate-chip cookies. I make the recipe on the back of the Nestle package, with some slight variations. I could eat these all day, which is why I rarely make them.
7) Corn. Corn on the cob. Corn in soup. Corn pudding. Creamed corn. Fritos. Pass the corn.
