It's my party and I'll bake if I want to

Happy birthday to me!

Plum Cake Tatin

(recipe here)

I'm eating a lamb's what?

One of the surprises I got in the CSA box this week is Lamb's Quarter. The name makes it sound like it would make a great roast and the centerpiece of Easter dinner. The appearance, though, lets you know really it is best used for kids who want to make crayon rubbings.

Of course, I'm kidding. I let no kids color with my dinner before I ate it. 

I did, as is my hobby, look lamb's quarters up on Wikipedia. Once again, I was not disappointed. I found out it can also be called pigweed, goosefoot, or fat hen. Why all the animal names for something that is so clearly a plant? I mean, so very much a plant, that if I hadn't received it in a box of produce, I most certainly never would have even considered it to be a food item.

Admit it, composters out there... this looks more like a brown than a green, doesn't it?

Of course, after having my little chuckle over the most vegetarian goose/pig/hen/lamb that ever got eaten, I read on about it nutritive properties and the varied uses for it. Which are: this is related to spinach, tastes like spinach, and can be used like spinach. Which, of course, begs the question: Why not just use spinach?

I'm so glad you asked. There is a very real answer to why lamb's quarter should be used instead of spinach. And that is, because lamb's quarter is what is in my box this week, and spinach isn't. 

Really, though, as far as I can tell, lamb's quarter is a little bit milder in flavor, tougher in texture, and has a wee bit more nutritional value than spinach. Other than that, there is no real reasons to choose one over the other. It can be used, like spinach, in a stir-fry, salad, lasagna, quiche, etc.

Having never tried it before, I went for a recipe that would mellow it through the sheer strength of the other flavors. As it turns out, it is a bit tough, but very very mild in flavor. I certainly would be happy to try it again in a different recipe. For this week, though, it became a part of a Greek Salad. I adapted this recipe from one I found on Prodigal Gardens.

Greek Lamb's Quarter Salad

1 bunch of lamb's quarter, de-stemmed (about 3 cups of leaves) 

2 medium tomatoes

2 cucumbers

1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese

1/4 cup dill, finely chopped

1/4 cup minced red onion

1 clove garlic, minced

1/3 cup green olives, cut into quarters

Toss all the salad ingredients with the dressing, below:

1 1/2 tbsp. lemon juice

1 1/2 tbsp. balsamic vinegar

1/2 cup olive oil

1/4 tsp. ground black pepper

2 tsp. fresh oregano

Measure all ingredients into a jar and shake well.

MyPlate vs. My Plate

Have you seen the new government recommendation for nutrition? This food plate icon is supposed to replace the food pyramid that the youths are learning about these days in school. You know the pyramid. It's the one that replaced the square meal that I learned about in school.

Anyway, I like the plate. It is simple and easy to understand, and it makes sense for any size plate or appetite. 

However, a complete half of the plate is taken up with fruits and vegetables. Just when I thought I was making headway with my kids and their eating habits, this comes along to show me how very far I have to go. Around my house, the plates tend to look a little more like this:

At least that is what my kids actually eat off of their plates. I could probably serve them a plate that looks like the one that the gov'mint recommends, but in reality, the stuff that gets eaten is not represented by the red and the green here. 

I like it when I view it as a goal; I feel like my husband and I eat pretty much like this plate recommends we should. I just wish I could get the kids to eat that way also. I realize that we aren't alone... according to an article I saw today, only 16 percent of kids in my kids' age range are getting that much (and even that is if you count potato chips and french fries as veggies, juice as a fruit).

The article is on CNN.com, and it also offers ten tips on how to get your kids to eat their vegetables.

Believe me, I could use some tips. I am willing to try anything to increase the consumption of veggies and decrease the consumption of sugar around here. It's just that I really don't think that most of these work in real life. At least in my life.

Let's take these ten tips one by one:

1. "Get them while they're hungry." The idea is to offer veggies to kids when they are so hungry that they'll eat anything. I will agree that this works to an extent, but if the kid is adamant about not eating a particular food, he ain't gonna like it any better when he feels hungry. In my house a hungry kid is a whiny, cranky kid. Trying to make him feel better via brussels sprouts is not a great solution. Just tonight, as I was writing this post, the kids started in with "I'm hungry. What's for dinner? What can I eat?" I thought I would put this tip to the test, so I chopped up some carrots and set them on the table, saying "You can start with this while I finish up the rest of dinner." What happened? The kid who loves carrots ate almost all but two of them. The kid that thinks that carrots are okay if you have to have a vegetable, ate the other two. The kid who doesn't like carrots decided he really wasn't that hungry after all. My conclusion: If you have a kid who likes a particular veggie, this might work to get him or her to eat a little more of it. If a kid doesn't like the veggie, he will hold out until something better comes along. At this point, I am not sure I want to know if my kids could get hungry enough that they are willing to bite the hand that feeds them.

2. "Institute the 'no thank you bite' rule." This tip is to make your kid eat at least one bite of everything they are offered, and that eventually, enough exposure will make them grow to tolerate any particular vegetable. Believe me, I have tried this. The article doesn't account for kids who will spend an hour or more whining, crying, falling out of their seat, or arguing about trying that one bite. It doesn't account for kids who get so worked up that when they do try the bite, they gag on it, bringing it back up along with everything else they have eaten in the past few hours. Nor does it account for the fact that there are just some things that some people don't like. I myself don't like eggs. I will eat them if I have to, and I have eaten eggs many many times in my life. However, I really don't like them, despite the repeated exposure to them. I imagine it is the same for kids and their veggies. Eating one bite at a time of something you just don't like is unlikely, in my opinion, to make you like it. Around here, it just invites a power struggle that leaves me wondering if getting that one bite in that little belly is really worth it.

3.  "Make up cute names." The idea here is to entice your kids to eat veggies if the name is something funny. The person quoted in the article swears that her kids eat brussels sprouts when they are called "Hero Buttons." I will admit that I have used this one with some success... my kids do like to pretend that they are dinosaurs and that the broccoli is trees. That only works to an extent too, though. They don't care what you call it by the time they hit about age 5 or 6... I can't see my 9-year-old buying it if I tell her that lettuce is really GreenGirl's cape.

4.  "Shop with your kids." I've tried this too. Unfortunately, they don't want to buy vegetables any more than they want to eat vegetables. I have tried conning them into putting produce in the cart... but they are too busy pulling the cart toward the dairy aisle to ask me for pudding cups (which I have never bought and never will buy, so why don't they get a clue and stop begging!?!?!).  I say, "Hey, wanna grab some celery for me?" And they say, "Why? Am I going to have to eat it?"

5. "Cook with your kids." I do like this one. It is true, they take pride in their work and they want to eat their own creation... at least until they taste it. It works for getting them to try something, but that novelty wears off pretty quickly. Tasting one bite of a food is hardly going to fill up that big green wedge on the plate icon up there. I admit, they like the cooking. They like chopping and stirring and measuring. They like making foil dinners when we camp ... but they are very picky about which vegetables they include (read: potatoes and carrots. only.) I just can't always involve them while I cook, though. Life is just too busy.

6. "Have a 'veggie night'." The idea here is that if there are only vegetables, they aren't competing with tastier options. Oh my goodness, I can just see the mutiny if I tried that one. I might never even get the kids into their chairs, let alone facing their plates. I also feel hungry about an hour after a meal if there isn't some sort of protein or fat included. I find my self back in the kitchen, snacking one something that really doesn't resemble that plate recommendation. I am not sure how they think this one is possible. 

7. "Hide the veggies." This is the idea of pureeing and shredding vegetables and hiding them in sauces, soups, even brownies. I will admit, this works. I have gotten the kids to ingest lots of things they didn't know they were eating. It takes a lot of time and a lot of advanced preparation... and many of the recipes out there have a pretty low vegetable-to-other ratio. Is the 1/3 cup of spinach puree really worth it when it is surrounded by a pan of brownies? I do shred veggies into spaghetti sauce, hide them in lasagna, and I've baked them into muffins. It is assuredly better than not getting the vegetables; it just certainly isn't filling the big giant green corner of that plate up there!

8.  "Make fruits and vegetables the easy option." The idea here is to make it as easy to grab a bunch of carrot sticks as it is to grab a handful of crackers or a cookie. I will agree that this works with fruit... if I set a bowl of grapes or pre-peeled orange wedges out, it will disappear quickly. If I put individual cups of applesauce in the fridge, they will be gone before I know it. However, for my family, it just doesn't work with veggies. I have set out a bowl of carrots and some Ranch dressing... they ask "What else can we eat?" I have presented a plate of celery and peanut butter as the after-school snack; They say "Isn't there anything else?" 

9.  "Let them use fun gadgets." This is the idea of letting the kids run the food processor, blender, etc. My kids do love to make smoothies in the blender... which again gets lots of fruit in their little bodies, but no vegetables. They are happy to throw the vegetables in the food processor, but they aren't fools enough to eat it afterward. 

10. "Bribe with dessert." I kinda like this one. The rule in my house is that you should eat dinner until you feel full, but if there is food on your plate, you get no dessert. I tell the kids that I can't throw away the food on their plate just to get more food out for dessert; it's wasteful. I know there are all kinds of people who would disagree with this one. I understand the argument that if sweets are viewed as a reward, they become an emotional thing that make you feel happier and you associate food with happiness. I don't know how much I believe that, but I do try to make it about waste and proportion, not about actions and consequences. On the other hand, I have watched my kids clear their plates only after they learn that there is ice cream waiting. It's not exactly giving them a love for the vegetable, but it is creating a little more balance.

What about you? Do you have any tips or ideas for getting your kids to eat well?

Morsels on the Move

I'm going to step away from the fresh produce today, to spotlight another cook I know.

She is actually a professional cook, in that she gets paid for her work (something I haven't quite figured out for myself, yet). I guess technically she is a pastry chef, since she does mainly cookies and brownies. And let me tell you, even though she has had no formal training, she makes some delicious cookies and brownies.

Her business is called Morsels on the Move, because she has no storefront. She bakes them all in her home, and hand delivers them by the dozen, fresh out of the oven, to her clients... at their work or their home. She is willing to bake almost anything her customers want, but her specialties are chocolate chip cookies, fudge brownies, and peanut butter cookies. I think she likes it best when a customer says "Surprise me." Then, she gets really creative. Last time that happened, she made chocolate chip dough, wrapped in peanut butter cookie dough, and baked together.

She will fill an order within 12 hours, if needed. She can deliver any time after 6:00 am... which means that a lot of her clients are people who need to take a treat to work or school, who want a home-baked dessert, but who don't have the time or interest to do it for themselves. She delivers to their house in the morning, and they take it with them to the office. I have used her services on more than one occasion when I was pressed for time. Her prices are so reasonable that it is very worth paying for this service.

I had the opportunity to help out recently, when she was up until the wee hours filling an order for a local high school that needed 9 dozen a day for two weeks, as a treat for the teachers who were administering state tests. She is fun to work with... she keeps a smile on her face, maintains her cool, and truly enjoys making these baked goods for her customers. More often than not, she slips a few extra cookies into the package, just because she knows it will make the customer happy.

She also happens to be just shy of 10 years old, and my daughter.

Right now, she is up past her bedtime, filling an order for a friend who wants 2 dozen cookies delivered to her at her son's karate class tomorrow. As always, the order will be delivered complete and on time, with a smile.

I am learning that one of the good things about cooking, writing about cooking, and talking about cooking, is that people start thinking of you whenever they come across a great recipe. Just the other day a friend of mine told me about a pasta recipe that she tried, and that she thought I would like. She got it from Cooks Illustrated, and forwarded the recipe to me.


I thought I would make it for dinner one night last week, but that entire day turned out to be a comedy of errors. Just one part of the day involved me going to the market and returning with all the ingredients... for something else. Needless to say, we didn't eat that pasta dish for dinner that night.


Skip forward to today, where I have made it to the market (again), come back with the correct ingredients (for a change), and I have a good opportunity to cook dinner for just the five of us (instead of barbecuing for a whole neighborhood).


This felt like one of those recipes where you have been wanting to make it forever. In reality, it has only been a week or so since my friend first mentioned it to me, and less than that since she sent me the recipe. Regardless, I finally got to the point where I was actually able to cook and eat Spaghetti al Limone. And boyohboy am I happy about that! It was absolutely worth waiting for!

Spaghetti al Limone 

Published January 1, 2011.   From Cook's Illustrated.

• Table salt
• 1pound spaghetti
• 1/4cup extra virgin olive oil , plus more for serving
• 1medium shallot , minced (about 3 tablespoons)
• 1/4cup heavy cream
• 2teaspoons finely grated zest and 1/4 cup juice from 3 lemons
• 1ounce finely grated Parmesan cheese (about 1/2 cup), plus more for serving
• Ground black pepper
• 2tablespoons shredded fresh basil leaves

1. 1. Bring 4 quarts water to boil in large Dutch oven over high heat. Add 1 tablespoon salt and pasta to boiling water; cook, stirring frequently, until al dente. Reserve 1¾ cups cooking water, drain pasta into colander, and set aside.
2. 2. Heat 1 tablespoon oil in now-empty Dutch oven over medium heat until shimmering. Add shallot and 1/2 teaspoon salt; cook until shallot is softened, about 2 minutes. Whisk 1 1/2 cups of reserved pasta cooking water and cream into pot; bring to simmer and cook for 2 minutes. Remove pot from heat, return pasta, and stir until coated. Stir in remaining 3 tablespoons oil, lemon zest, lemon juice, cheese, and 1/2 teaspoon pepper.
3. 3. Cover and let pasta stand 2 minutes, tossing frequently and adjusting consistency with remaining 1/4 cup reserved pasta water if necessary. Stir in basil and season with salt and pepper to taste. Serve, drizzling individual portions with oil and sprinkling with cheese.

Apricot Sauce

As I mentioned earlier this week, summer has hit in full force. The box of produce from AHOrganics was full of luscious fruit. I am overwhelmed by how sweet and delicious it all is.

We aren't quite keeping up with some of it, though. I noticed this morning that the apricots were starting to go bad, so I quickly scooped them up, cut off the mushy parts, and made them into apricot sauce.

This can be used as a dressing for chicken or pork, or drizzled over ice cream, or stirred into plain yogurt... but it can also be eaten as it is. My kids will be seeing it in their lunch boxes this week.  It is super easy and quick to make, and it is delicious. It uses the entire apricot (skin and all), so it retains the vitamins and fiber, but eliminates any issues my kids have with mealy texture or the fuzzy skin.

First, cut the apricots into chunks, and remove the pits. (I had about 8 apricots).

Put the apricot chunks, about a half cup of water, and 3-4 tablespoons of sugar into a saucepan. Bring it all to a simmer, and cover and cook for about 5 minutes, until the apricots are all tender.

Pour the apricot mixture into a food processor, add a tablespoon of lemon juice (to preserve the color), and pulse for just a second... you want it to be blended but still a tiny bit chunky. At this point, you may want to add a bit more sugar to taste.

It can be served warm or chilled. Or divided into little containers and kept in the fridge for hungry students to eat all week.

a rose by any other name

In the box this week was a big, beautiful bunch of cherries.

These are Ranier cherries, which (as I learned from the newsletter) were created when two types of dark red cherries were crossed. As you can see, the babies came out light yellow and pink, not red at all. It kind of makes me wonder if one of the parents demanded a paternity test. 

Regardless of whether these are legitimate or not, they sure are sweet and tasty.

I decided to make a cherry cobbler out of them. So, I set out the cherries, the pitter, the flour, sugar and cinnamon, and a baking dish, and then I went to bed. In the morning, nothing was changed. I guess elves only help this kind of cobbler. 

The kind of cobbler I wanted was either a Betty, a Grunt, a Pandowdy, a Slump, a Buckle, or a Sonker. Of Course. 

What? I don't know. Wikipedia tells me that these are all types of cobblers. Apparently there are different names for this dish in different parts of the United States. And according to Wikipedia, only the deep south allows for serving it with a scoop or two of ice cream.

I just wanted to make life easy by not having to roll out a pie crust, and so I made a cobbler. Mine had the very specific name: Cherry Cobbler. It may have been a Cherry Slump, for all I know, actually.  

Hey, did you wonder where the name cobbler comes from? I assumed it was because you just get to cobble together a bunch of stuff and have it come out awesome-tasting. It is actually because the dish resembles cobbled streets when it is done. Who woulda thunk?

You know what else Wikipedia told me? There is also a drink called a Cobbler... made with wine, citrus juice, and sugar. Hmm.... I think I should have skipped right to that kind of cobbler in the first place.

Ahem. I think I may have digressed once or twice. Back to the ingredients the elves didn't use. 

Cherry Cobbler (from Emeril Lagasse)

This can be made with any type of cherry. I used the Ranier cherries I got in my CSA box, and I added a few Bing Cherries, for their dark red color. I thought it looked nicer with the glaze turned deep red from their juices.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

Remove the pits from 6 cups of cherries. If you don't have a cherry pitter, get one. If you don't want to get a cherry pitter, made apple cobbler. Just kidding. You can use a paper clip or a knife. It just takes a while and stains your fingers temporarily.

Combine the pitted cherries, 1 1/4 cups sugar, 1/4 cup water, and 4 teaspoons of cornstarch in a saucepan. Cook, stirring until bubbling and thickened, a few minutes. Pour into an 8x8 baking pan.

Meanwhile stir together 1cup flour, 1/4 cup sugar, 2 tablespoons brown sugar, 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon, and 1 teaspoon baking powder.

Cut in 3 tablespoons of cold butter, until it is all crumbly.

Lightly beat an egg, add 3 tablespoons milk, and add to the flour/sugar mixture, stirring just until it is all combined.

Drop the topping by teaspoonfuls onto the cherry mixture. 

Pop it all in the oven for 25 minutes, or until it is all brown and bubbly. Serve it warm, with vanilla ice cream (if you live in the deep south, that is).