Spring, where are you?

Think spring! I had to post this picture of my Mom growing her incredible eggplant. No matter what she grew it was wonderful and the plants looked the healthiest one can imagine. She used to make her own compost for her wonderful garden!

I will not fight with the deer this year, but will plant what they don't like. Our yards are not only home to many deer, but a few were born in the yard -- triplets!

I will plant arugula, kale, herbs, etc., but unfortunately no tomatoes or squash unless I can figure out where to hide them. I have already purchased Irish Spring soap and have other deer repellants, but to make it to our dinner table it will have to be something the deer don't like to eat!

A picture of my Mom in 1938, when she was 21 years old is on the cover of my book, Walk Forward,
on Amazon.com at http://www.amazon.com/Walk-Forward-ebook/dp/B009H6Y7AC in paperback and in Kindle format. One need not own a Kindle as the Ebook can be read in the Amazon cloud), book's trailer is at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zp7uQap6p2M

Perch and Fresh Asparagus, My Favorites!

My favorite fish is Ocean Perch, which is on sale this time of year, along with fresh asparagus!

I wash the perch, dip in flour, spray a pan with cooking spray and add a bit of oil to barely coat the pan and "fry" the perch, skin side up -- I hope I have this correct -- that the skin side is up when first cooking the perch,k as if the wrong side is down, the pieces curl and are nearly impossible to cook evenly! If I forget which end is to be up, I cook one piece in the pan to double check! I like to get a brown coating on one side before turning the delicate fish. Just before placing the fish in the pan, I rub dried dill between my palms and sprinkle it on the coated fish. I add dill to the flour coating too. The reason I use flour for perch rather than corn meal or some other coating, is that I want a very delicate covering of the lovely perch. I love to see the petals of the fish, but always watch out for those tiny bones which usually find themselves on my husband's pieces of perch!

Perch is probably my favorite fish as living near Lake Erie, we ate it much as children, however, my mother would fry it to perfection. Frying is no longer a cooking option for us, but spraying the pan and adding a bit of oil to coat, gives us the illusion of fried perch, my very favorite fish. Add a Yukon gold potato  plain, without anything on it, allows us to justify the bit of fat in the fish, and the yellow color of the potato makes it look like it is full of yummy butter (not in our normal meal plan, but allowed at weddings and special occasions). I try to cook the asparagus until just barely tender as my husband dislikes what he calls "al dente" vegetables -- he likes his vegetables as if they came out of a can or are cooked to the state of mushiness! I much prefer a bit of a bite and the beautiful color of a slightly "al dente" vegetable, but love to eat them raw too!

The first time I had raw asparagus in a mixed salad was at the home of a friend's mother. My friend's mother lives in Maineville, Ohio, and would grow her asparagus and serve it freshly picked in a salad, literally having the "just picked goodness" of a homegrown vegetable.

I am thinking much of my friend's Mom and hope she is feeling better after some courageous surgery! Were the weather better, we would be visiting my friend's mother and enjoying the visit with her in her most incredible garden!

I don't usually garnish our plates with strawberries, but aromatic ones are on sale this week and having spent the weekend in Chicago at a fabulous wedding has influenced my simple meals for our homecoming!The perch is sitting on a bed of fresh arugula which I can not wait to grow again in my garden. My Mom planted arugula every year and baby arugula reminds me of a lunch my youngest sister and I had with my graduate school adviser, a friend for over 45 years, who took us for a beautiful lunch at The Tavern on the Green in Central Park (sadly, The Tavern is now closed), where we had baby arugula salads!

More Comfort Food

My sister who lives in Austin, Texas, sent me a "care" package with stone ground grits. The best grits I ever had in my entire life was at the Monument Cafe in Georgetown, Texas. Not only is this a wonderful place to eat, they are so helpful as to how to prepare their foods. No secret recipes here and knowing how to make the foods oftentimes increases visits to the restaurant as one does not always want to cook. Believe me, I will not visit Georgetown, Texas, without stopping in at the Monument Cafe!

My sister purchased the grits at the market adjacent to the Monument Cafe and the Cafe's cook most kindly shared how they cook them. They boil them in water until tender. Since I do not want to watch over a pot of boiling grits, and with my luck I will burn the pot, I decided to cook them in my slow cooker:

See how creamy the grits are getting with water as their only solvent? I set the slow cooker on high, used 1 cup grits to 3 cups of water, and stir about every hour.

We will eat the grits tonight, not tomorrow morning for breakfast, thus, the high setting on the slow cooker.

The grits will accompany salmon burgers and stir fried vegetables, we love them when the onions get a bit caramelized, yummy! Wish I could send this dinner from Cleveland to my Texas family!

Roasted Cauliflower - Comfort Food and Sweet Treat

My sister who lives in Austin, Texas, asked me how I prepare roasted cauliflower. On busy days like today, I want to put everything for dinner into the oven. In fact, I talked to my sister while preparing dinner tonight, cooking it, eating it and I need only throw the parchment paper on the cookie sheet away -- few pots or dishes to clean.

As a treat, we have literally eaten roasted cauliflower as if we were eating potato chips! Easier to make than kale chips, which only take ten minutes in the oven but can get overcooked very easily, no one can over or under cook roasted cauliflower! Under cooked it remains crunchy, but we prefer the tendency to overcook and enjoy the caramelized goodness and softness of this wonderful vegetable, which I purchase when on sale at our local market. It is one of the few vegetables in our part of the country in the winter that says USA!

One of our favorite winter vegetables is this roasted treat. My husband and I can eat almost an entire head for our side dish for dinner or as a fun evening snack. It has a beautiful color, roasting brings out the sweetness, notice the dark sweet spots on this delicious vegetable!

Kids love finger foods, don't we all! We eat it completely plain, but one can spray the head with cooking spray and put on preferred spices, serve with ketchup, or just plain per its natural sweetness
and caramel color and flavor.

Notice the green leaves, don't throw them out as they become tender on roasting and have nutritional value. I only cut off the first, outermost leaves and slice up the entire head into thin long pieces. Some of the long pieces break up on their own and others break up after baking in the oven.

I usually roast the sliced up head of cauliflower on a 9" x 12" cookie sheet lined with parchment paper, which I buy in bulk from COSTCO! I set the temperature to 425 F or the temperature needed for the rest of my dinner baking in the oven. I put it on the bottom baking rack in my oven as other items are baking on the racks above!

Enjoy this sweet, warm, and comforting treat, especially wonderful in our cold and very long Cleveland, Ohio winters!

Beautiful Happy Birthday Flowers to Adorn the Monster Cake

If you have baked a "monster" cake for your birthday, don't judge the cake by its external looks!

Just as we don't judge a book by its cover, don't judge your monster cake until you have taken a bite!

The "monster" cake is delicious. I will include the recipe in another post, but look at the flowers which appeared at my front door this morning in Cleveland (which seems to be like living in the North Pole this winter)!

The colors of the roses include my mother's favorite, the peach colored ones, which remind me of "tea roses." The roses are beautiful and decorate the table. I had the table adorned by my mother's life-like daffodils, in a vase I had once made for her covered with her favorite flowers, Margarites.

No wonder my dear Mom named one of her daughters, Margaret Ann, after her favorite flower and her most beloved Aunt Margaret.

The cake looks and tastes better surrounded by the flowers Margaret Ann sent to my house this morning; flowers appeared with a knock on my front door, after I cut a slice of the cake and was on the phone ordering medication. My husband has a regular dentist appointment today! Does everyone go to their dentist on their spouse's birthday? If the roads are clear (heard there was black ice out this morning) we will make it to his appointment -- if he can not eat pumpkin bread or cake per dental work, at least he can enjoy Margaret Ann's flowers!

Below is a slice of the wonderful cake, it is not too sweet. I like cakes made in the German tradition, and this marble cake tastes like a German one, hardly sweet, but has a wonderful texture, but I think I will put a bit more sugar in it the next time I make it. If my Mom were here to share this birthday with me, and how I wish she were here, we would be whipping up homemade whipping cream to add to this wonderful cake -- I might add a few fresh strawberries in her memory.

Mommy, can you see the cake and smell the roses? I know you can wherever you might be!

The pumpkin bread looks better with the flowers too, it makes the raisins look wonderful!

Love to Mommy from your daughters, grandchildren and great-granddaughter! I know you had the hardest time giving birth to me, and I know I owe you my life!

Birthday Cake

For my birthday today, I defrosted a pumpkin bread as always bake extra and keep the loaves in the freezer for times when I need a cake or feel in the mood for some healthy pumpkin bread!

After taking the pumpkin bread out of the freezer, I decided to bake one of my mother's favorite cakes for my birthday, a marble pound type cake.

I have never had a loaf cake rise this high up! I can not imagine that I over mixed the cake, but I have never experienced such a high topped cake. My husband says it has a high top to better show off my single candle which I hope to light later in the day!

When I cut into this cake, I hope it has an incredible taste and marbled pattern as it sure looks like a bit of a monster at the moment!

The pumpkin bread that I defrosted is much lower in height!

Again, what a cake for my 66th birthday -- maybe I should cut it up quickly after blowing out the candle so no one notices what a monster cake with a very fat tummy?

I guess there is a first time for everything and at least the cake batter did not overflow the loaf pan!

Snow, Snow, and More Snow

Wow, what a winter! My husband keeps reminding me of what the weather is like in Hawaii, thus, I think I better come up with food to warm us up today and give us a bit of a feeling like   .  .   . catching a wave?

The photos of Hawaii look so heavenly, maybe I should make an angel food cake for my birthday this week?

Maybe a pineapple angel food cake? I made a strawberry angel food cake when my Texas nephew requested a "strawberry" cake, on his visit to Cleveland in 2011. I substituted the water required in an angel food cake mix with pureed strawberries --- the cake had a light pink color and tasted yummy.

Angel food cake made with a can of crushed pineapple is wonderful, just dump the entire can plus liquid (natural juice) into the mix as the exchange for the water designated on the box of the cake mix.

My great-niece loves "purple" and blueberries -- for Emma, I would take a box of angel food cake mix, instead of water I would use pureed blueberries, and drop the batter into cupcake tins!

I bet one could use puree from any fruit from apples to mango -- as a substitute for the required liquid in cake mix for angle food cake. I used to make angle food cake from scratch - using many egg whites, but why bother per the convenience, quality, and fluffiness of an angel food cake mix can not be beat -- just make sure your mixer is in working condition on the highest speed!

As Ina would say "How simple is that?"

Emma loves cupcakes, don't we all?  Two year-old Emma would say, "O.K.!"

A Birthday Party to Remember

The weather in Cleveland has not improved, but we made it to Austin, Texas, for a few days for our great-niece's 2nd birthday party. My niece Julie made some wonderful foods for the children (and adults) attending the party at the Austin Dog Alliance. Compare the photographs of Cleveland, Ohio, to Austin, Texas, on approximately the same day in February!

                                                                           

One child filled his plate with a selection of very healthy and colorful combinations of fruit, cheese, and crackers.

                                                                                     

 

For easy to handle food for children, and adults, Julie made some doggie's in a blanket (a small piece of hot dog embedded in dough,) which can be made from most any kind of pastry that can be wrapped around a small piece of meat. Per my former life in intensive care units, hot dogs can be very dangerous food for young children, so always be very cautious in this respect. Small pieces of multi-colored cheese and cut up fruit were most colorful on the buffet table.

Cupcakes on a cup-cake-tree were a wonderful addition and my niece had the most fluffy cupcakes covered in white icing with multi-colored sprinkles. Lemonade was available for the guests and the hosts were two very well-trained dogs, both named Max.

In a Blizzard? Think Hawaii with these wonderful Banana Pancakes

What can I make today for breakfast, January 25, 2014, to celebrate my great-niece's birthday and forget the view outside?

How about banana pancakes, almost as good as the ones we had in Hawaii? In any case, these remind us of a wonderful vacation so many Januaries ago and we can celebrate a bit for breakfast for a most precious birthday!

Take the ripest banana, like the dark one in the picture and mash it up before adding it to your favorite pancake recipe. You can mash it up completely or leave some chunks. If you leave a few chunks, the wonderful banana "perfume" will permeate through your kitchen, and you can dream to your heart's content, until you look outside!

In Hawaii, they slice their wonderful small apple bananas and get the heavenly aroma, however, I have found slicing does not give us the same effect in the continental US. I need to mash one banana and leave some chunks -- enjoy with maple syrup or your favorite topping, you will use less syrup as the banana adds a bit of sweetness to the wonderful banana-mash-pancakes! The restaurant in Hawaii was cooking hundreds of these wonderful pancakes, but since I only cook a few, mashing and leaving chunks in the batter creates a more aromatic mixture than slicing the banana.

Banana pancakes are a most wonderful comfort food during the coldest, snowiest blizzards. Finished eating the pancakes? Then enjoy the time to curl up with a good book like, "Walk Forward," and feel most blessed!

Happy Birthday sweetie, can not wait to see you again! I must adapt this recipe for French toast, the favorite of today's birthday girl, a most darling, beautiful redhead who lives in Austin, Texas, but is a "Cleveland Girl," when she wears her mittens!

Nothing like mittens or precious home cooking from Cleveland, but in any case, like me "keep dreaming" of warmer weather and beautiful sunshine!

Gluten-Free Crustless Pumpkin Pie

I have been making crust-less pumpkin pie for so long, I have forgotten that many eat it with a crust!

The pie pan might not look very good, but believe me, every drop of that delicious pumpkin will be cleaned off the plate!

We love our pumpkin pie, always make two at a time exactly the same way as if it had a crust. When we have a "real" pumpkin pie pumpkin, I bake the pumpkin whole in the oven and mash it before freezing. I have found that baking the whole pumpkin is easier than trying to cut up the hard flesh and cooking it in water, which can add too much moisture to my pumpkin puree!

The easiest way to make the pumpkin pie, so that it tastes the freshest and has that heavenly smoothness, is to use Libby's pumpkin and add one's own fresh ingredients including cinnamon, ginger, and cloves, the usual 4 whole eggs, sugar and canned milk. If I do not mind losing the pumpkin flavor, I substitute  1-2 very sweet, ripe, mashed bananas (turned into a white puree in my Ninja) instead of the granulated sugar. If not using bananas as a sweetener, I usually use only 1/2 cup of sugar and two small packets of a sweetener containing stevia. Sometimes I skip the stevia and only use the 1/2 cup sugar.

We do not like the pie when the only sweetener is stevia, but at least a bit of granulated sugar plus the stevia seems to taste the best to us. Per the mashed banana, no other sweetener is needed. The banana works as granulated sugar, granulated sugar counting as a "liquid" in baked goods.

From Halloween, to any holiday, or just for a snack, we love our crust-less pumpkin pie. For special occasions, I make a homemade crust or pull one of my homemade frozen crusts out of the freezer, defrost, roll out, and place into the pie shell for a more traditional pumpkin pie. I like the recipe on the Libby's can of pumpkin the best, but all egg whites work, as does nonfat canned milk, almond, or rice milk. We do not miss the crust and think we are reducing the calories of the pie, although, I must admit, it disappears faster than a pie backed with a wonderful crust!

For the best pie, I like the recipe on the label, but be sure to cut down on the sugar depending on how sweet your family likes pumpkin pie. We can easily become used to using less granulated sugar. I would make a pie and decrease the sugar each time until I came down to about 1/2 cup. We like our pumpkin pie less sweet as it tastes more like delicious homemade pie. The wonderful pumpkin does not need all the sugar suggested, however, the pie does need some sweetness!

                                                

Mock Cincinnati Chili

Having been privileged to live in Cincinnati, Ohio, for several years, I learned to love Cincinnati foods from Cincinnati chili, to Graeter's bakery products, and Graeter's incredible ice cream! I remember our very first visit to a local restaurant, not a chili parlor, when the waitress reviewed the specials and said "chili spaghetti". I replied "chili or spaghetti?" and she responded, "No, chili-spaghetti, it is all-in-one, mixed together." I was hooked forever and sometimes make chili alone, but oftentimes, boil a pot of spaghetti along with my chili!

I love any kind of chili from the Texas brew to Cleveland chili contests, but my favorite is Cincinnati chili, which has a rich dark color! Since many of our meals today lean to vegetarian, I have adopted the original Cinti chili to what we prefer, a meatless chile. Since beans are considered as "meat" in the new food tables, and I much prefer vegetables to meat, I include a few of the Cinti secret ingredients in my veggie chili.

When I do not have time to make the vegetarian version of what I call "real" Cincinnati chili per the many recipes I have from the natives, I make "mock" Cinti chili by adding heaping teaspoons of cinnamon and one heaping tablespoon of chocolate cocoa powder to my small pot of chili.

Pictured below are some of my "secret" ingredients and my bowl of chili plus cheese! The traditional cheese used in Cincinnati chili is a yellow shredded cheese, but I love mozzarella cheese and use it on anything!

                                                                             

Kale Bouquet from My Garden to Yours

Since some of the snow melted today and it was in the 50's, I decided to walk back to my garden to check out my flowering kale. On a nice day like today, I pick a bouquet and freeze it for later use. I always have kale available in my front garden for those times I do not wish to walk in the deep snow to the garden in my backyard.

Below are some photographs of the kale from garden to packaging for the freezer. One need not cut the kale, as once frozen, I merely squeeze it to break it up in as small pieces as I need for any recipe, or to sprinkle into soups, chili, etc.

I picked a bouquet beautiful enough for my dining room table, but the goal was to wash it, dry it a bit on a clean kitchen towel, and get it into freezer bags and into the freezer. Yes, I do nibble some tasty flowering kale as I process it!

If I have time, I run out and pick fresh kale for what I am cooking, but if I am short on time or it is too dark in the winter evening to venture in the backyard, I pick it from my front flower beds or use my frozen kale -- clean and ready for any recipe that calls for spinach. Our favorite is putting kale in smoothies which we have been doing for 1 1/2 years now! Drink up, it is a very healthy drink and you will not taste the kale in a banana, peach, blueberry, cherry, or strawberry smoothie -- the colors can be unusual, but there is nothing like that gorgeous green color in a banana, almond milk, kale drink!

Not Your Grandmother's Traditional Kugel

I decided to make one of my favorites, noodle kugel, but when I checked my raisins, they were clumped together in one big rock! I did not want to add sugar to the recipe, as thought the recipe might be sweet enough using ingredients I already had on hand. Since my husband is allergic to large amounts of dairy, yet I wanted some dairy in my kugel, I thought, "What if I try making kugel substituting nonfat Greek Yogurt and my banana puree for the dairy and sugar in a traditional kugel recipe?" Thus, I would be cutting the traditional amount of diary in a diary noodle kugel by 1/2 and he might tolerate it.

Above you can see the result, my husband and I could not stop eating it! I had pureed two large very sweet bananas until completely smooth.

Since my husband and I are both now on a low fat diet, I shared one tablespoon of butter for greasing my corningware casserole dish and the remainder of the single tablespoon went into my bowl of drained hot noodles.

Herein is the recipe for my low-fat, no sugar added, cranberry noodle kugle:

1 tablespoon of butter
1/2 pound of noodles --cooked and drained well
1 cup of pureed banana (processed to a smooth consistency like that of sour cream, 2 large bananas)
1 cup of plain nonfat Greek Yogurt
1 large flavorful apple diced into tiny pieces in my Ninja processor
2 eggs beaten
1-2 cups of Craisins (sweet, dried cranberries)
1 teaspoon cinnamon

I mixed the above ingredients in the order listed into my drained noodles, placed in a greased
corning ware oven pan, and baked at 350 F for about 40 minutes.

Enjoy! I love using plain nonfat Greek yogurt as almost always have some in my refrigerator.

Fresh Cranberry Relish

A favorite fresh cranberry relish made this time of year includes a bag of washed cranberries, an entire apple cored (not peeled) and a peeled orange. The relish made this way needs much sugar. To make the relish sweet without using sugar, I add a very ripe banana to the mixture and process in my small food processor per the pictures below.

I also process very ripe bananas by themselves and create a smooth, creamy mixture, which I use instead of sugar in recipes including pumpkin pie. Since granulated sugar turns into a liquid on baking,
adding the banana mixture does not add much liquid to a recipe, but I generally count the banana mixture both as a sugar and as a liquid, lowering another liquid in the recipe.

Cranberry relish sweetened only with banana

If the bananas are small, I will use two bananas, as the recipe is not sweet enough for us unless the banana is a very ripe, large banana.

When I have extra ripe bananas, I process a few to form a sweet, creamy liquid which I substitute for granulated sugar in many recipes.

Noodle Kugel

I love having this blog as it is easier for me to find a recipe herein than in any cookbook.

There are many variations on noodle kugel. For those who are familiar with bread pudding, I sometimes think the best way to explain a noodle kugel is that it is something like a bread pudding,
but made with noodles instead of bread.

I am a noodle kugel lover, I love any kind of noodle kugel, but a most wonderful one was made by my new friend in Tulsa. This kugel is so delicious, I took some from Tulsa to Austin in my carry-on baggage. My niece in Austin, Texas, and I ate this wonderful noodle kugel for breakfast the next day -- kugel holds well, can be eaten warm or cold.

I can not promise that kugel will pass TSA per every flight, but the TSA rules say that cakes are allowed, and kugel is not a liquid, but a solid. It is cut in slices, usually squares. Trust me, the kugel recipe below is worth including in your carry-on luggage!

When I make it, I will include a photograph. I was asked if "yogurt" could be substituted for the cottage cheese and sour cream? It would not be traditional, but I would think that Greek Yogurt would work, but I have not actually tried substituting. I plan on making this recipe this week and will also include variations. Per those allergic to dairy, the dairy products can be totally eliminated from the recipe and a non-dairy margarine can be used. The final product will be more dense.

The two Granny Smith apples, peeled and grated, are unique to this kugel recipe and add something special. For those who can not eat apples or raisins, mandarin oranges may be substituted for the apples and the raisins, but I personally prefer the recipe below, sent to me by my new friend in Tulsa:

1/2 lb. noodles (broad noodles are traditional, but I have seen kugel made with all widths)

I stick butter  (could use marg. I like butter)

1/4 cup white sugar (I have used brown sugar for a darker colored kugel, but take care for those   allergic to molasses)

1/2 cup golden raisins (golden raisins are dark raisins which have been lightened, any raisin works)

2 Granny Smith apples, peeled and grated

1 cup cottage cheese

1cup sour cream

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla

Preheat oven to 350 F.

Cook noodles, drain and put immediately into a large bowl, which contains the butter. Mix butter and hot noodles. Add sugar and stir again. Add 2 peeled and grated apples. Stir. Add sour cream and cottage cheese. Stir.  Beat 2 eggs lightly, add  the vanilla to the eggs. Stir eggs and vanilla together.

Lastly, pour the eggs & vanilla into the noodle mixture and stir it all well.

Pour mixture into buttered 13x9 Pyrex pan and bake (uncovered ) for 35-38minutes. Cool, cover and refrigerate.

Can be made a day or two ahead of time. When cold, slice in desirable-size pieces, warm slightly and serve.
 

Travels great!