Augustus

This month usually throws me for a loop. Outside of my sister's looming wedding there are birthdays, bridal showers, anniversaries, bachelorette parties, weddings. With lots of celebration comes lots of indulgence. As a person who cooks for a living, it's difficult to keep the ol' girlish figure. It takes discipline and I don't have a ton of that virtue lying around. Thank god we live in a society that values a "boot-strap" philosophy. There's plenty of assistance for the do-it-yourself-er, and I'm a fan of getting help when it's needed.

So, being an American- one who, as my nutritionist would say, is "lit-up" by food- it behooves me to be proactive in my approach to health and my weight in the future (ie, after children, which is an eventual and inevitable thing). I've struggled to maintain my weight my whole life, and the struggle continues. Nay, it continues to get more difficult. I exercise regularly ... about five to six times a week ... I eat good foods, maintain a healthy diet for the most part ... but there is this trigger in my brain that overwhelms my gut signals when it comes to delicious food. When that happens, I'm more likely to finish a platter of food for 20 people than I am to stop when I'm actually full.

It's a problem. But, I'm working on it.

Seems the whole house has gone health-crazy, trying desperately to not make a trip to Beech Hill Farm and Ice Cream Barn trip before the clock strikes 8 pm. We're big ice cream fans around here. We try not to have it in the house at all.

In the midst of all this dogged running, crunching, squatting, lunging madness, I've found some pretty awesome and healthy recipes. Now, when it comes to eating healthy the key is to make food as easy as possible. Anything that requires too much trouble is out the window. That's why I fell in love with this little concoction right here:

Eggplant coins. It's a riff on a recipe I found on Pinterest, called Eggplant pizza.

Mark Bittman wrote that he used to say he never invented a recipe in his whole life ... but lately he's backtracking on that statement. To read a great piece by him recently, click here. So that said, the inspiration was there and I just took it to a different place.

I love photographing my cutting boards. They are usually scattered and my mise en place is never really "en place" ... ya' dig?

Most of the ingredients for this came from our humble home garden. We are slowly pulling heirloom tomatoes from the vines, but it feels like hundreds of pounds of them are sitting there all green and lovely, refusing to move. Dammit. Get some color already. The eggplants, on the other hand, are always ready to party.

So I sliced them into coins about a centimeter thick, lined them up on a baking sheet, brushed them with olive oil, then baked them at 400 for about 20 minutes.

In the meantime I sauteed the chopped tomatoes in olive oil, garlic, salt, pepper, and a bit of left over canned "tomato sauce" I had sitting in the fridge that needed to be used before it went fuzzy.

When the "coins" were done, I topped them with tomato paste, my simmered tomatoes, parmesan cheese, and added basil in the last five minutes of cooking. I think the thing cooked for a total of 30 or 32 minutes. I ate them until I was over-full.

Banh Mi knock offs have been a regular in the house, too. With two dozen cucumbers picked on average a day, I need to figure out ways to use them. They're covered by pickled carrots and red onion here, but trust me- they make an impact.

Banh Mi sauce is what gives this whole shin dig a little spring in its step (and its name). I like using the following ingredients for pretty consistent results:

0% Greek Yogurt

Maybe some sour cream? If you have it.

Cilantro. Lots.

Fish sauce. A good splash.

Lime juice. SO tasty.

Sriracha. Enough to give you a rosy glow.

Mix that together and set some aside as a dip, shmear, whatever. Toss your protein in the rest and grill up for one satisfying meal. I love to add cabbage, slices of cucumber made by using a peeler, and lots of zippy pickled carrot and onion.

That could be eaten as a salad, a wrap, on a baguette, in a panini on your trusty George Foreman Grill, you name it.

All of this was lying around. I absolutely recommend finding any used summer issues of Bon Appetit, Food and Wine, Cooking Light ... their recipes are good all summer and many of these savvy publications get the fact that we're all too busy to make a creme anglaise or some other ridiculous culinary feat at 5:30 at night with a hungry family as an audience. It aint happenin'. By some stroke of consumer polling, they figured out we would prefer if they would just KISS.

Keep it simple, sister.

That's more like it. 

May all of your bikini wishes and ice cream dreams come true. xo

Post pizza satisfaction.

I can't tell you how many times I've heard people categorize pizza alongside sex.

"Even the bad kind is good," I hear them say.

As untrue as this may be, pizza has had an iron-clad grip on my heart for going on 3 decades. Raise your hand if you feel the same.

That's a good show of hands.

Pizza, flatbreads, pies, no matter their form these guys are the easy dinner kings- giving freedom to kitchens everywhere when the weekend is finally here and let's face it: we don't want to cook for real, but we sure as hell can't bring ourselves to deal with take-out.

There's never a bad time to pick up a few new pizza ideas. This Friday the family put together three summer favorites to pair with loads of red wine and a fire out back built in the half-an-oil-drum we buried as a fire pit. It looks a lot prettier than it sounds. I swear.

Yankee ingenuity is a powerful thing, folks. That is also where our evolution of pizza comes from.

I choose wines solely on their labels. A vineyard's smart marketing is truly their gain when it comes to this drinker. 

It helps that I love chickens. ::cluck cluck::

Stoic with Red.

I took the easy route and bought pre-made pizza dough ... the kind you have to knead yourself, not the pre-baked. I've been so busy lately that it's been a while since I made my own dough.

Don't judge me.

Anyways ... the first Friday night pizza I put together was: Eggplant.

We have these fancy Japanese eggplants in the garden this year, all long and thin and funny.

They're coming along faster than their shorter, fatter counterparts. I sauteed them with garlic, olive oil, white wine, some cherry tomatoes, basil, salt and pepper. once everything was soft and "saucy", I layered the mixture over tomato sauce and then topped it with shredded mozzarella. It was pretty awesome on a whole wheat crust.

There she is, pre-baking time. Very excited about how it came out. The leftovers were even better! After a day in the fridge, this pie was super flavorful!

Next up was the summer squash white pizza. The base was olive oil and garlic, just smeared all over the top. Then I layered thinly sliced summer and zucchini squash, topped it with thyme, goat cheese, salt and pepper. This one was the overall favorite of the night. Who knew?

And there's dinner. The chip in the plate gives the shot character. We only use the good plates for company.

Melissa threw together a caramelized onion and chicken sausage pizza with mozzarella on a multigrain crust. In the long run, huge pizza success. The moral of the story? Get creative. Pizza is just bread with a bunch of stuff on it. That stuff can be anything. Go the garden, see what's ready to eat, and wing it.

Remember ... even the bad ones are good. Right?

Happy eating! xo

Dinner is served.

I wanted to take a moment to reflect on value.

I'm not talking about money, necessarily. I'm talking about real "value." What is a sunset worth? The sea? Losing an admiral amount of weight? Seeing your favorite band from the front row of a huge auditorium?

How about an easy meal with your closest friends and family?

I have some fantastic clients in this line of work- from as far North as Lebanon to as far South as Hollis. One of my favorite tasks for these splendid folks is giving them the freedom to play host.

For some of us there is nothing more stressful than trying to entertain a room full of people AND trying to make them all dinner at the same time.

Then think of the dishes.

That's an herb and garlic crusted 6LB beef tenderloin to feed 12 people. Do you want to man-handle that kind of meet with a kitchen full of people?

I didn't think so.

I just wanted to drive home the value of having a dinner party surrounded by friends and family. One where you can drink as much wine as you want because if you get drunk, the food won't suffer.

I don't drink while I work. The food is great. Trust me. I cook with a smile and it shows.

So the next time a momentous occasion is on the horizon and all you want to do is celebrate- call me. I can make sure that you actually do just that: celebrate. Forget sweating in that dress/suit you paid a lot for because the apron and the oven don't care how long it took you to get dressed.

Forever Feasting to the rescue. Your holidays, birthdays, anniversaries, and foodie-friend meals will never be the same.

And that's a good thing.

Here's gluten at you, kid.

We should talk about the should haves ... not about the can't haves. As a nutritionist told my husband and I recently, "We're looking for progress, not perfection."

I thought that was brilliant. It gave me chills.

Then I had ice cream cake.

The truth of the matter is, food is powerful stuff. We take for granted all that it can do for and against us. I find myself shaking a fist at the ice cream that has crept its way into our freezer (I didn't buy it, I swear). I can't help but salivate for loaves of bread with gobs of spread (butter, jam, makes no difference). It takes will power to avoid those things we know are not so good for us. Our brain wants them so badly, but our body's cells cry out in anguish ... I have a feeling that's where eater's remorse comes from. I experience that pretty frequently.

I find this to be a really lovely shot of mussels at Chauncey Creek Lobster Pier.

Plus, mussels are gluten free. I'm addicted to them.

And then there are the folks who have been told, either by a doctor, nurse or surgeon, "You have a ___ allergy." Insert whichever one suits your situation.

Then, imagine that after you've been given this diagnosis you realize that everything you've eaten in the past week contained that allergen. It is so embedded into your life that you have no idea how to get rid of all of it at once. What would you eat?!

We don't all go through it, but a lot of us do. I'm here to tell you that there is no end to the pleasure of good food. A lot of our problems arise from processed foods. Put a whole-foods spin on things and you'll feel like a new (wo)man. Do a lot of label reading. If you can't pronounce it, don't eat it. Scratch that: if a five-year-old can't pronounce it, don't eat it.

I have lots of clients who have to avoid gluten in particular. I have my own theories on the exploding population of people with gluten sensitivities and ciliac disease ... theories that involve GMO wheat and maniacal corporations viewing our heads like giant wallets ... but I digress.

Living gluten free, dairy free, garlic free (yes, I know people with garlic sensitivities) might not be easy at first, but it is possible. If you feel like you're in over your head, perhaps it's time to call a nutritionist and a personal chef? Talk about a weight off your shoulders (and your middle ... hehe!). Our job is to make sure you stay healthy, but also that you can still find joy in your meals every day.

If you aren't excited about every single meal or snack that comes into your life, you need to make some adjustments.

Maybe the following lines of text could help you find new meals you may not have thought of before?

How about some recipes and pretty pretty pictures?

This here is from a girls weekend with my foodie friends from college. Chicken on the grill with that simple Lemon Anything vinaigrette I wrote about a few posts back. We threw some asparagus on the grill, too. And then the grill lit on fire- like, engulfed in flames. We had to turn the propane off and back away slowly. Thank goodness the chicken was cooked all the way through.

Gluten and dairy free turkey burgers! I used brass fennel, garlic, salt, pepper, olive oil and an egg. Usually I would recommend adding some bread crumbs to the mixture to add girth, but it really isn't all that necessary. These were dynamite. Turn them into meat balls and douse them with marinara and you have the makings of a great Italian meal. We put these together during a romantic week away. 

Fennel Turkey Burgers:

1 LB ground turkey (93-7 works really well)

2 Tbs fresh chopped fennel fronds

2 minced cloves of garlic

1 Tbs olive oil

1 medium egg

S & P ... about a tsp each

Form into four equal sized patties and allow to chill for a few minutes. Grill on high heat until internal temperature reaches 160 degrees or more.

The next night we did Puttanesca Haddock with Green Beans:

1 1/2 LB haddock fillet

2 cans (14 oz) of diced tomatoes in juice

2 minced cloves of garlic

3 Tbs olive oil, divided

1 or two anchovies, depending on how you like it

1/2 cup kalamata olives

1 Tbs capers

2 Tbs fresh chopped basil

1 LB washed and snapped green beans

S & P to taste

Start fish in a 400 degree oven, dressed with some olive oil, salt and pepper. Cook until opaque in the center. Meanwhile, start one Tbs of oil in a pan over medium heat. Add garlic and anchovy and allow to cook until anchovy is liquefied into the mixture. Add tomatoes and allow to heat through. Next add olives and capers. Allow sauce to simmer until slightly reduced and saucy. Toss all that basil in just before serving. Blanch green beans in hot, salted water until bright green, then rinse with cold water to stop cooking. Toss with remaining oil, salt and pepper.

Arrange on plates with beans first, then sauce, then serving of fish, then more sauce. This meal should feed four people, but it fed Mark and I just fine with some left over to give to a friend who lived nearby.

 The following night was baked sweet potatoes with maple sugar and butter, grilled corn, and sirloin steak with a my newly invented and brilliantly dubbed: Up-North Guiness Sauce. BAMF!

Up-North Guiness Sauce

This is powerful stuff flavor wise. It can be devious on its own, but slather it on some Porterhouse and you have heaven on a plate.

1/2 bottle traditional Guiness (a bit more if you enjoy more of a beer taste) 

3 Tbs maple syrup

3 Tbs unsalted butter

S & P to taste

Throw all of that into a pan and allow to simmer on low heat until reduced significantly. Spoon over anything that once had a face.

I put this together and used the ratios strictly by accident and I was beyond thrilled with the results. It will be a repeat offender in my kitchen from here on out.

These are Chocolate Cherry Heirloom Tomatoes. They're producing fruit the fastest in our garden. Very excited to watch them change color!

I've been told I need to stop eating so much cheese. But with a place like Butter's Fine Food and Wine just a stone's throw away, that might not be possible. I'll give up ice cream instead. Maybe.

Now *that* is a healthy looking grill. It all came together for Melissa's next birthday dinner (one that fell on her actual birthday- well done, sister).

So, I had found this recipe on an epicurious app and made it for some clients. I liked it so much it was what I decided to bring to the party. Too bad I wasn't bright enough to take a picture of it with the sauce. Just imagine it's beauty for me.

Grilled Shrimp with Tzatziki Sauce and Greens

1 LB large/jumbo shrimp

1 cup diced cucumber

1 cup Greek style yogurt (I used Cabot)

2 Tbs lemon juice

2 Tbs chopped dill

2 Tbs minced shallot

1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese

5 oz mixed greens, or lettuce right out of the garden (my preferred option)

1 Tbs olive oil

S & P (lots of it)

Skewer your shrimp, dress them with olive oil, salt and pepper and grill them for about 3 to 4 minutes on each side- you know ... until they're done.

In a bowl mix the next five ingredients together and season generously with salt and pepper. Allow the mixture to chill for a bit.

Lay your shrimps on a bed of lettuce and sprinkle them with the feta. Serve with LOTS of the sauce. Be sure to make extra sauce because you'll want the leftovers to put on everything. That stuff could make a gym sock taste amazing.

I've been long winded enough for this post. I'm glad you lasted through the whole thing! Thanks for reading!

And remember, no matter what adversity your gut may face there is always a way to appease the gastric gods. Don't hesitate to ask for advice, find an awesome food blog to follow (*ahem!*), and try new things!

Now ... I have a bone to pick with the remaining ice cream in the freezer. I'm going to give it a piece of my mind. 

xo

Ginger Spiced Summer

Ginger beer is one of my favorite things on earth.

Soda (Pop, Fizz) is something I steer clear of altogether. Commercially sold soft drinks are full of garbage we don't need and our bodies DO NOT want.

If it can take blood off of a highway and the rust off of a car bumper, I don't want it in my belly.

What the soft drink companies don't want you to know is how simple making this stuff really is.

Water + Sugar + Flavor + Bubbles = Bliss

For Podunk Fest (Melody and Matt's new annual festivus for the rest of us), I decided to bring the elements for one of my favorite cocktails, the Dark & Stormy.

Here is the process from beginning to end:

A rough chop through about 2 cups worth of ginger root.

Add half a vanilla bean and a few solid strips of lemon peel.

Then boil that son-of-a-gun in 6 cups of water. When the ginger is cooked through, add 4 cups of sugar.

Chilled and standing in the morning sunlight.

Well dressed and ready to party.

Now, in order to turn this sugar combination into fizzy lifting drink, we need to add club soda. In addition to that, some spiced rum helps a lot.  

Podunk Fest was an incredible time. Here is how the rest of the evening went. A big thanks to Melody and Matt for hosting everyone. Well done, you two.

A few delighted smiles. Now, where's the food?

Matt had the great idea to provide this crowd with a crawfish bake. This was the secret to success.

Glorious crawfish. Loads of them.

They're so purty.

Say hello to my little friend.

That's a hungry crowd.

That's a dog.

Our lovely host, enjoying local strawberries.

Mom's famous raspberry lemonade with a splash of ginger syrup. Delicious!

May all of your celebrations with friends and family be the stuff of vibrant and loving memories. xo

Catching flies with vinegar

"It's the dressing that baffles me." I hear that a lot.

Well, I'm paraphrasing, but that's the gist. I'm sure the dressing and marinade industry is making a killing off of people not being confident in creating their own flavor basis.

Lucky them. Now, lucky us.

What does it take? The following:

Fat:

You need a fat base. Olive oil is a standard, as is canola or vegetable oil, even sesame oil makes an appearance every once in a while. Sometimes it's mayonnaise, sometimes it's bacon fat. Either way, you need something to carry your flavors and create a nice mouth feel.

Acid:

That tangy bite we crave. Vinegar is the standard, as is citrus juice. The variety here is unbelievable. Take a waltz through your favorite grocery store or fancy foods store and find their vinegar section. Your head may spin. I like to keep several bottles on hand at all times ... for the most part they are: Soy Sauce, Balsamic, Red Wine, White Wine, Rice, Sherry, Champagne, Raspberry, Apple Cider, White. We always have lemons in the house, usually some limes show up ... grapefruit works, too. Oranges are a nice change every once in a while. If you have any of this sitting at home, you can make amazing meals with few other ingredients.

Aromatics:

Shallots do really well here. I use them in almost every dressing I make. Also garlic. Paste that stuff through a Microplane or other zesting/pressing tool and there is garlicky goodness throughout whatever it is you're mixing. Then there's herbs. The options here are as endless as the vinegar selection, so I won't bore you with semantics. All I ask is that you try any and all of them. Herb gardens are a great way to give your green thumb a trial run. They practically take care of themselves and many varieties are perennials.

Other flavor enhancers and aromatics include anchovies, citrus zest, chili peppers, black and white pepper, wine, juices ... let your imagination run wild. I love to add mustard- dijon or a stone-ground spicy something-or-other- which adds a thickness and a flavor that is hard to beat.

Balance:

 Sometimes you have to add a little something to manage all those flavors. Acid can create quite a bite and some sweetener helps bring your concoction from the brink. Maple syrup, brown sugar, honey, and agave syrup are favorites of mine. Sometimes all you need is just a pinch, but it makes such a difference. If you can't shake getting the shakes when trying your concoction, add some sweet.

And trust your palate. Don't be afraid to try new things. Here are some old standbys of mine (keep in mind, oil:vinegar is equal to 3:1):

Lemon-Anything (This shows up in a lot of my cooking):

Olive oil
Lemon juice
Garlic
Shallots
S&P


Red Wine & Herbs (Very flexible, works great on grains)


Red Wine Vinegar
Shallots
Garlic
S&P
Thyme
Parsley


Latin Flair


Canola Oil
Lime Juice
Garlic
Shallots
Cilantro
S&P
Red Pepper Flakes
Agave Syrup


Asian Invasion


Soy Sauce
Sesame Oil
Toasted Sesame Oil
Ginger
Garlic
Red Pepper Flakes
Black Pepper
Brown Sugar


Balsamic Standard


Olive Oil
Balsamic Vinegar
Garlic
S&P
Maple Syrup


Like I said, sky is the limit. Just keep these rules in mind and you're golden. Marinate meats and veggies, dress salads and sides, roast anything and everything with these guys and you're made in the shade.

Tasting for quality is a metaphor for life, just remember that it is easier to add an element than it is to take it away.

xo

I make it grain

I've been saying a lot lately- here and there (Facebook, actual face-to-face time)- about how dearly in love I am with whole grains.

No, seriously ... I have.

There's so much out there that I have yet to add to my master list. It seems like new grains come to my attention just about every day. It's funny to call them "new" since most have been enjoyed by ancient civilizations for centuries, but have been lost to our society through methods of commercial agriculture and monoculture.

Sorry, this isn't a soap-box posting. It's an ode ... to heart-healthy, belly filling, blood sugar stabilizing, freaking-delicious grains.

Even these guys want in on the action, though they don't have a chance of having those begging glances being rewarded.

 

That's Jackson on the left, Bear on the right.

My dad is one of the hardest people to convert to the whole-grain bandwagon. Don't get me wrong, he's a healthy-ish guy ... whole grain bread products are a standard in his house, but he hates rice, quinoa ... really anything of that ilk that has a "grainy" texture.

I get it. He's not alone in his plight. Lots of people can't get beyond the look of the stuff, let alone eat it.

That's when my job gets interesting.

 

That right there is a Bulgar salad. Zucchini, summer squash, broccoli, feta, pancetta.

When something like this hits the table and there are skeptics about, your offering needs to taste good- nay, *great*. Plus, I had to compete with a cobb salad surrounded by deviled eggs. No joke.

 

See?? That's some serious competition!

Needless to say, a little bit of cheese and a little bit of bacon (traditional, Italian, Canadian, it doesn't matter) makes everything taste better. I consider using bacon a cheat. It really isn't good for you at all, but its horrible attributes can be overlooked if we're trying to overcome a textural aversion.

My salad got two thumbs up (in the form of a second helping on Daddy-O's plate) and that felt great. Grains are a blank canvas to apply flavors to. Sure, some of them have their own curious flavor profile- quinoa and amaranth certainly have something going on- but that doesn't mean you can't delight your taste-buds. Here are some tricks to help you ease into grain-laden-bliss:

Rinse and/or Toast: Toasting grains helps their flavor develop. Rinsing makes a huge difference with lots of these guys. A quick wash in some cheese-cloth goes a long way (colanders are a decent idea, but their holes are often too big for this purpose).

Stock: Veggie, chicken, veal, beef ... forget the directions on the box/bag, cook grains in stock instead of water and you're headed down the road to success.

Flavor Enhancement: Acids and oils can take you places without adding too much salt or fat to the mix. Lemon juice, red wine vinegar, sherry vinegar, rice vinegar ... do I really need to go on? Olive oil and sesame oil certainly do the trick. Any combination works well, just be sure to mix your vinaigrette in a separate container before splashing it all over your grains. Quality control, folks ... quality control.

Hot and Cold: I love that you can eat this stuff either way, but keep temperature in mind when you're serving. Temperature will change the texture of your dish and that can make a huge difference to any eater.

If there's a grain you're dying to try, TRY IT! There are so many resources out there to help you find the perfect recipe, you really can't go wrong. Your heart, belly and mind will thank you.

Happy eating. xo