Great Piece and Flexitarianism

I Love this article I just found at The Baltimore Sun, entitled Invitation to a kosher, non-lactose, gluten-free, vegetarian dinner party. You've got to read it! But I think I'd add those who don't sugar, caffeine, or fat. The author, Jim Sollisch, touches on all the right things, everyone's got a food agenda these days, myself included.

I try to modify at dinner parties, which  I guess makes me more of a food hypocrite, but I spent years and years as a pseudo-vegetarian, no mammals was my motto. Now I think I'm the so named flexitarian, which according to Wikipedia is... Flexitarianism is a semi-vegetarian diet focusing on vegetarian food with occasional meat consumption. A self-described flexitarian seeks to decrease meat consumption without eliminating it entirely from his or her diet. There are no guidelines for how much or how little meat one must eat before being classified a flexitarian. Flexitarian is distinguished from polpescetarian (oh! that's what I used to be!), i.e., one who eats only chicken and fish, but does so exclusively. Even though I live it, I'm not so sure I buy it!

I wish I was the one to come up with all these fun names like flexitarian and locavore!

Warm and Rustic

I think we all go through food phases, mine right now is warm and rustic, maybe because it's only now getting above freezing temperatures after almost a week. And this is the South!! Anyway, there was a time I'd want gooey casseroles or ingredient laden mish mashes, now I'm going for the clean and wholesome, simple and satisfying.

The other night we had to use what was here as the roads were iced over (not as bad as it sounds, I had just been to the store and we really could get out if we needed to, it just sounds a little more poetic that way). But dinner turned out delicious, stick to your bones but not in an ugh I'm so full way. We had beautiful, roasted potatoes with a sprinkling of sea salt, drizzle of good olive oil and scented with a sprig of rosemary. Even my younger daughter ate them and she is not a potato fan! The glory of this dish is you can add whatever vegetables you have on hand, in the fall and winter you can use a mix of butternut squash, beets, sweet potatoes, carrots, whatever you've got, and the potato varieties are so accessible now, as you can see in the picture - new, purple, russets, fingerlings, yukons... You can do this in the summer, too with softer summer veggies like tomatoes, zucchini, bell peppers, eggplant - the list goes on.

I cooked some onions until golden but not caramelized with some garlic, browned some chicken breasts and added  chicken broth and tomato sauce. That simmered together for a few hours with thyme and oregano, scenting the house with a homey aroma that teased us all afternoon. When it had thickened and the flavors had melded, I added carrots and garbanzo beans. The chicken was fall apart tender and was perfect with a side of gently steamed green beans. There's almost nothing  a mother loves more than when her family loves her cooking and you know it's good for them a the same time.

Seasonal is a great way to cook. Let you body tell you what it wants. I love a fresh spinach salad and bowls of berries, but I needed something warm this past weekend. I know, I know, we live in heated homes and can buy virtually any fruit or veggie year round (how fortunate we), but there's something to be said for eating what nature puts out there right now.

Snow and Chocolate Chip Cookies

Believe it or not, Atlanta got a little snow, or ice, or some sort of white crystaly stuff on the ground that made us slip and get cold, but was really fun nonetheless. School was cancelled, so there's nothing like a snowy Friday or rainy Sunday that makes me want to make chocolate chip cookies.

The whole process  is so homey and soothing, I remember my mom making Toll House cookies when I was a kid and the smell in the kitchen, me just eating right when they came off of the sheet. Nothing beats a warm chocolate chip cookie.

However, I've been trying to healthy things up in our house and though I don't really buy store bought cookies anymore, and believe they're much better tasting and better health wise to make them yourself, there's still some finagling room in the realm of homebaked goods. Though I still use white sugar sometimes, I've switched to adding blended organic oatmeal and not only using organic flour, but also whole wheat. The blend adds a good rustic taste which my family really loves, using a turbinado sugar even adds to that. So though you are getting some nice buttery fat and sugar, you're also getting fiber from the oatmeal and whole grains from the whole wheat.

Here's my toyed with recipe for Snow Day Chocolate Chip Cookies:

2 sticks butter (softened)
3/4 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup granulated sugar (you can use turbinado but use a little less)
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 eggs
1 cup organic all purpose flour

1 cup organic whole wheat flour

2 cups organic oatmeal (divided)

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 bag chocolate chips ( I like dark but use whatever you like)

In a mixer, blend butter and sugars together until light and fluffy. Add vanilla and eggs one at a time, beating well. Gently add in both flours, baking soda and salt. In a food processor, blend one cup of the oatmeal into coarse flourlike consistency. Add that to butter mixture and blend just until incorporated. Add the other cup of non-blended oatmeal and mix to blend. You may want to use a wooden spoon as you don't want to over beat (it makes your cookies tough). Mix in chocolate chips.

Drop by rounded spoonfuls in consistent size onto ungreased cookie sheet. Bake at 375 ° for about 8 minutes (for chewy) or just until the wet look is gone. Add a minute or two for a crispier cookies. Best to eat when chocolate chips are still warm from the oven!

Fresh Seasonal Produce - Nothing Like It

Remember those times you've picked something straight from the garden? I do - maybe my father-in-law's tomatoes - red, and juicy, kissed by the sun and warm as they pop in your mouth, or maybe our good friend Phil's oranges straight from his California trees, sliced with their vibrancy and turned into a jewel toned elixir to drink by the glassfuls, or pulled apart section by section and enjoyed as the juice trickles down your hand. Mmmmmm....

Maybe this is on my mind as I sit here bundled up on this 23 degree morning, or maybe because Wayne and I just watched the Iron Chef America Super Chef Battle where Chefs Lagasse and Batali took on Chefs Flay and Comerford (the White House Super Chef) and the secret ingredient was anything they could pick from the White House Garden. It proved gardens aren't just for the summer. They had basketfuls of bright broccoli, purple cauliflower (!), feathery fennel, the First Lady's favorite sweet potatoes, even honey from the Presidential bee hives. Delicious!

Farmer's markets are popping up more and more, though we're still searching for a good one near us. Sure we have all the big stores (which I love) within a five mile radius - Whole Foods, Fresh Market, Trader Joe's, but nothing like those Saturday morning markets nearby. The ones we have nearby are kind of lame, I hate to say, and don't do a lot for me. I think one of my fantasies is living somewhere where we can wake up on a Saturday or Sunday morning, leisurely walk to the Farmer's Market with our bags, ogle the fresh produce, hear the banter of the farmers while we munch on fresh breads and sip dark coffee, choose the perfect meal for dinner, and eat fresh strawberries for the rest of the day while we wait to cook it.

We did recently hear of a market, but it's not in walking distance, maybe a 30 minute drive. It's on our list of things to do, though - and when we do, I promise you a picture! In the meantime, if you can find some local produce, even wintery fruits and veggies, don't pass it up! Do something yummy and simple with it and enjoy!

Coffee - What's in Yours?

Since I read The Ominivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan, I've realized food really is a dilemma (though such a worthwhile one). We're blessed with so many options, or are we really cursed? As you walk through your average supermarket, you're bombarded with choices, decisions, pros and cons. Do you go the fat free route and sacrifice purity? Do you go the organic route and pay extra? Do you go convenience and load the earth up on extra packaging? What are we consumers to do??

I know where I stand on most of these, and it's made shopping more of a challenge, and sometimes more expensive, but I've also realized my organic, fresh shopping bill does balance out by not buying too many pre packaged, pre portioned items. So yes, I'm clear on a lot of things in the grocery store and on my table, but here's one I keep toying with and going back and forth on...

What's the best thing to put in your coffee?

I only recently started drinking coffee, well relatively speaking,  and without giving too much of my age away, I went a couple of decades without it (yikes decades!), but now even dream about that luscious brew in my sleep. I just LOVE coffee!! I love waking up and knowing I'm about to embark on my first cup - brewed strong, fragrant aroma warming the kitchen, sharp taste kick starting me awake. But here's the thing I wonder, what's our best option to add to it?

I started out with the "synthetic coffee whitener" as Pollan calls it - you know the stuff, comes in lots of flavors, lots of fat contents and has lots of, well, stuff in it. I gave that up a while back and switched to soy milk. Then needed a change and went for cream and turbinado sugar or maybe some soy creamer, maybe the turbinado without the cream. Soy, even plain soymilk, does add a creaminess without so much fat. For as much as I love dessert, I actually don't like creamy sweet coffee, and for as much as I love my Starbucks, I'd never order something like a macchiato, creamy, caramelly, sweet something to pass for coffee.

So it's true, with all the choices in the grocery stores, in Starbucks, even in the coffee aisles with hazelnut coffee and caramel coffee and chocolate mint truffle coffee, I guess I'm just a purist. I choose my organic fair trade coffee and I guess maybe my dollars balance as I pass on those flavored whiteners and whipped cream toppings.

So as I sit and sip right now, the coffee is strong and black, and just darn good.

How about you? How do you take your coffee?

Welcome 2010

Can you believe it - 2010?? Where did 2009 go? I know where a lot of it went for my family and me - food adventures! So I guess I'll admit it (maybe that's part of my New Year's resolution) and let everyone know how much we LOVE food. And I mean love it! Not just, hmm that was a great dinner, but WOW, the silkiness of the black cod, the perfume of the roasted golden beets, the chocolate essence of the tiramisu. The lingering taste of sea salt on a fleur de sel caramel that fills your mouth with that luscious combination of sweet and salty...okay - you get the picture.

I could go on with some of the great adventures of 2009 (like the juicy pork dumplings in Pasadena or the baguettes in Metz, France), but instead, how about just the fabulous meal our dear friends created last night for the last of 2009, to greet 2010 - to share and welcome a new year. It began with buttery smooth Robiola cheese, sweet fig jam and crispy black pepper crackers and that fun, Evil wine, fruity and full, hints of berries. Then we moved on to the light salad, my friend Carolyn did magic with some olive oil and honey, green onion and white vinegar to dress it, but the star of the show was the Filet, perfectly cooked by Tony and wearing a dab of goat cheese with a chipotle sauce for swiping it through. As if that wasn't enough, crispy on the outside, sweet and warm on the inside crab cakes, flecked with colorful peppers and just darn good. I've determined not much beats surf and turf, and next time, I promise pictures! Darn, I can't remember the name of the wine picked up in Napa Valley by Carolyn and Tony, just that it was a pinot noir, with an earthy dusky flavor, full and ripe, and we had no trouble emptying the bottle.

This great meal ended with nothing better than a chocolate cake. The kids all ate it up, too (not just the cake, but the whole meal), and more on that as you read this blog - kids do not need to exist on chicken nuggets and french fries!

So welcome! Welcome to 2010 may it be a great year for all - and welcome to Our Fantastic Food Friendship! One of our goals is to share our favorite meals - the simple and delightful, the complex and warming. It's not so hard - to eat well and healthy and to have your kids enjoy the good food, too. To exist without high fructose corn syrup and limit your processed foods. To find delight in a fresh mandarin orange or a glass of Pelligrino water. Though we're not experts by any means, we do try pretty hard and we know what we like. Join us on our food adventures, as our youngest daughter takes you through a sushi bar and our older one swims through her love of seafood. Wayne and I - it's a whole gamut and mmmm, I'm getting a little hungry. More later!