Chill Out

So if you've ever wondered "just how far south of Sunnybrook are you there, Becky?" I'll tell you I'm roughly 1,100 miles south of Maine (as the crow flies), smack dab in the middle of Tennessee, a beautiful and friendly place to live as long as you can appreciate a bit of heat and humidity. I grew up in West Tennessee (even more humid) in a house with one window a/c unit in the dining room that was only turned on for company. I've made my peace with humidity. 

Now yes, of course, I do use a/c, though I try to avoid it as much as possible because I hate being closed in where I'm insulated and can't even hear the rest of the world. Cool air in summer is a wonderful and amazing thing, but I wonder how much it accounts for kids playing outside less...for all of us being outside less, which means being less connected with the natural world. When I was a kid, it was often cooler outside once you hit the high 90s and I wouldn't be closed up in a muggy house for anything.

Cold-brewed green/mint teas

Whether I'm indoors or out, I like a little caffeine in the afternoons. In the winter, I enjoy coffee or tea, but in the summer I need something cold. I do really like iced coffee, but only really strong, freshly-brewed coffee and that's just too fussy for a quick afternoon beverage. 

Enter the cold-brewed green tea. Cold brewing renders a very smooth, drinkable tea and with no heating necessary, it's perfect for summer. Put tea bags in pitcher. Fill with water. Place in refrigerator overnight. Remove tea bags. Enjoy tea. I put five green tea bags and one mint tea bag in this batch and the result is smooth and intensely refreshing. 

Now, being indeed South of Sunnybrook, I have to agree with my friend Julie Ingrum, who knowingly asserts "there is only one way to properly sweeten tea and that is in the brewing process." I agree with her and when I make "Sweet Tea", even in summer I will brew it on the stove, but obviously you can't sweeten cold-brewed tea the same way. Now, I think the cold-brewed green tea is great straight and I drank it that way all last summer. But I'm hooked on something else now.

One day when my 4-year-old wasn't feeling well, we snuggled up on the couch and watched Laura Calder make this lovely citrus simple syrup on television. It's really easy to make and I add a bit to my green tea now. I can also make fresh, homemade lemonade on demand if I have some of this pretty simple syrup in my fridge and who doesn't love that? 

Citrus zest pretties up a sunny lemon simple syrup.

My sister adds thyme to her simple syrup and you can add other herbs (my friend Mary Alice adds mint and more in her delicious natural concoctions). I'm a lover of color myself, and I just really like the lovely bright yellow color this syrup gets from the lemon zest. It makes me happy to see it in my refrigerator. I can add herbage in my glass if I want some.

Try one or both of these this summer and let me know if you love this simple pleasure as much as I do.

Inside My Fridge - May 25, 2011

My cup overfloweth with lettuces and strawberries. Apple juice/amoxicillin for the 4-year-old with a sore ear.  Rice/pasta for easy meals with green stuff this week as the adults recover from a stomach virus. Note the citrus simple syrup to the right of the milk -- my new favorite thing this summer.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPod

Do your kids really eat that?

Wheat spaghetti, fresh spinach with garlic and artichokes, caramelized onions, sweet corn

I am frequently asked if my children really eat the "family dinner" that I make. Well, sometimes they do, especially if it's not touching too much. Children are notoriously picky eaters but I am not a short-order cook. Who the heck has time? I am a firm believer in physics: it is pretty darn hard to see -- or more importantly, taste -- something if it's not physically on one's plate, so yes, I serve them the same food we're having.

I've decided to begin showing some of my various plating strategies more regularly, in hopes of inspiring those among you who think it's impossible to cook for everyone without making special meals, especially on a Monday! Besides, then you can see a better representation of how we eat, which tends to be a hodgepodge of local + canned/frozen and pretty simply prepared most of the time. If you are curious, the pasta and spinach are locally-sourced in this meal.

Monday evenings mean fiddle lessons for my four-year-old. We are blessed to have The Fiddle & Pick (home to the Middle Tennessee Musical Heritage Center) just down the street for budding musicians of all ages. On the way home he asked what we were having and I told him some wheat spaghetti, spinach with artichokes and corn. He noted that bread and butter would go nicely and asked hopefully if we could have "some of yours, mommy" which just is the best thing for a mom who makes bread to hear. Sadly, I did not have dough in the fridge as usual, so the storebought wheat had to suffice.

My plates has pasta, onions, spinach and corn, one piled on top of the other (aka "mixed"). As you can see the kids' plates have all of those components, but separated. I toyed with mixing the corn and pasta, but was honestly just too lazy to bother. I did pull out a large-ish piece of artichoke in case they wanted to try it and, yes, they do have bread and butter. Parmesan cheese is on the table for anyone who wants some.

It is my experience that kids will be more willing to try things if they have "safe" foods to sate their hunger. Interestingly, they both loved spinach before they had teeth and I've often wondered if they just don't like the way it coats your (my?) teeth. They did try everything this night; the four-year-old wrinkled up his nose, made a funny face and said, "yummy" after his artichoke bite, but didn't ask for more.

I just need a catchy name for my plating series. Feel free to share any ideas!

Inside My Fridge - May 8, 2011

First delivery of the Spring/Summer season from Avalon Acres! If you live in the Nashville area and want to join a CSA, this is a great one -- includes truly free-range meat, eggs, pasta, jams/jellies, etc., along with locally-grown, pesticide-free produce. The fresh strawberries are almost gone and so is half of that bok choy and a large head of farm broccoli after last night's dinner with my parents (udon noodles with steamed broccoli and carrots in sesame-peanut sauce and pork chops with bacon and bok choy, homemade vanilla yogurt and fresh strawberries).

I have lots of spinach in my garden and a big bag from Avalon, so I think I will do a spinach-pasta dish this week and that is as far as I've gotten with the planning. Avgolemono is a possibility since I have some lovely, farm-raised chicken breasts in the freezer. I also have not made broccoli soup for the kids yet, so that is an option. One terrific use for spinach and other greens: smoothies! They taste terrific and my kids love them. They get a kick out of eating greens that way....and so do I since that is the only way they actually consume greens thus far.

In case you have not yet figured it out, the "Inside My Fridge" picture is an exercise that forces me to inventory and tidy my refrigerator. Doing this weekly reduces waste and gives me an opportunity to be creative with meals instead of resorting to fish sticks or "the box" as the tubular pasta and dried, processed cheesefood is known in our house. A little planning goes a long way.

Full-on American Food

When I was a kid, I heard someone explain how a hot dog was the perfect illustration of a quintessentially American food. You've got a sausage from Vienna, bread from the Midwest and condiments from across the globe. I liked the idea of food illustrating our melting pot, but really can't we offer up something better than a hot dog? If you say McDonalds I am now plugging my ears and running away screaming. I find it sad that most of the rest of the world thinks golden arches and Coca-Cola when they think of "American Food."

What is Real American Food? It's basically "peasant food." Real American Food is simple, fresh and easy to prepare. The thing that makes Real American Food unique is the surprising blend of flavors from around the globe.  I've worked in restaurants with some truly talented chefs. I've watched amazing chefs on television. They all say the same thing: get the freshest ingredients you can and cook it simply and you'll always have amazing food. I think it finally sank in when I started cooking with Alice Waters' The Art of Simple Food.

Tonight's dinner is Real American Food: Pork Chops with russet and sweet potatoes and Swiss chard. The pork, sweet potatoes and chard are all from a local farm with Avalon Acres. The russets came from Costco. Easy, breezy, simple meal.

Pork Chops with Potatoes and Greens
Season pork as early in the day as you can, but at least 30 minutes prior to cooking. I made up a rub with sea salt, pepper, chipotle powder, garlic powder, onion powder and a bit of brown sugar. You can season it the night before or in the morning and pull out of the fridge while you prep/cook other things. It needs some time to come to room temperature to cook evenly.

Slice potatoes and season lightly with salt and pepper. Brown in about 1/2 TBSP olive oil in skillet (they will not be fully cooked). Add chopped or sliced onions and garlic if you like. Remove from pan and add a bit of vegetable oil or bacon grease (just about a scant teaspoon or so). Brown pork chops on both sides. Add a cup or so of chicken or vegetable stock and scrape up the browned bits. Add back in the potatoes, cover and lower heat. Allow to simmer for about a half hour until the pork is cooked through and the potatoes are tender. Wash and roughly chop greens and add to pot; cook until tender (mine took about 5 more minutes).

I served this with homemade bread and some brown basmati rice since my children are hit-or-miss with eating potatoes. It's not fancy, but it sure is tasty.