Yearly Archives: 2011

Open thread: Favorite cookbooks

Miscellaneous, Open threads

Thank god for the internet. It’s so convenient when looking up recipes and ingredients. But I also have a cookbook collection that I treasure. It numbers about fifty cookbooks that I have accumulated over the years, mostly since getting married in 2003. Admittedly I don’t cook from most of them. In fact, I read that most people cook a maximum of three recipes per cookbook. I won’t get rid of any of mine, even the ones I don’t use very often, because I love looking at pictures of beautiful food and thinking about eating. My current favorites that I use include:

1) Betty Crocker Cookbook (Bridal edition) — I received this as a wedding gift and I use it frequently. It has everything in it.

2) Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution — Useful and approachable recipes – geared towards people just starting out cooking at home. I especially like all the recipes for roasting meat and “veg” in the oven because that is my current obsession. Of course the fact that Jamie and I chatted by phone and he wrote a blurb for my book certainly doesn’t diminish my enthusiasm for his work. He inspires me.

3) The Family Dinner — Simply a great book. I love all the personal stories from real people and famous ones, too. We’re all doing the best for our families and it’s great to see people cooking and eating together as a family. I met Laurie David in person at BlogHer Food in Atlanta in May. We share a dual passion for changing food here in the US. I’m a big fan of hers.

4) Cooking for Isaiah — I love this cookbook. It was one of the first ones that I bought since going gluten free. Again, the recipes are readable and friendly. I haven’t been disappointed by any recipe I have tried. I like that she wrote a cookbook for her son — aren’t we cooking to feed someone? Just like lunch ladies, we feed people we care about.

5) Cooking from the Garden — My sister gave this to me last Christmas, but I didn’t crack it open until we started getting CSA boxes. I didn’t know what the heck I was doing with all those new vegetables. It’s been helpful as the recipes are short and easy.

For a more complete list, you can check out my Listmania list: Cookbooks I own, which only lists 40 books (the Listmania maximum). Luckily for my family I make holiday shopping easy — virtually any cookbook will make me happy (including old ones and homemade ones).

What are your favorite cookbooks? What do I need to add to my collection?

7 Free Activities for the Day After Thanksgiving

Miscellaneous

 “We buy things we don’t need with money we don’t have to impress people we don’t like.” — George Carlin

My mom attributes this quote to George Carlin so I’m going with it — do correct me if you know who originally said it. But it’s very true. Some people are freezing outside in lines to buy products that are still overpriced. While others are calling today “Buy Nothing Day.” I think there is a place in the middle for all of us. My mom just bought gloves online and I don’t think there is anything wrong with that. If anything, I think we should put our dollars into the local economy instead of with the mega-corporations. But in general I think finding fun, free family activities is great. Here are a few of my ideas for the day:

1) Got leftovers? – I find that some foods taste better the day after I prepare them. It’s time to relive the flavors and memories of the holiday all over again. Pack picnic lunches and take them with you when you… Cost: $0

2) Go to museums or the zoo – Many museums, parks, zoos, gardens and conservatories offer special free or reduced rates the day after Thanksgiving. Did you buy a museum membership this year and you didn’t get as much use out of it as you would have liked? Many attractions will see smaller crowds because many regular visitors are at home, shopping, or are out of town. Check out the museum’s websites for details. Cost: $0 (optimistically)

3) Skype – Charlie idolizes the older son of my husband’s cousin. We Skyped them and Charlie was in heaven seeing his friend. Cost: $0

4) Play board games – My husband is an evil genius at Scrabble and I don’t allow him to opportunity to beat me very often. I think tonight is my chance for a rematch. Cost: $0

5) Put up the tree – We’ve already unpacked the tree and strung lights this morning. My son was thrilled. Cost: $0

6) Watch movies – My husband planned ahead and rented five movies from the library. He chose mostly documentaries, which are free (non-documentaries cost a $1 and you have them for a week). Or you could raid your stash of favorite movies purchased over the years. Cost: $0

7) Clean out your closet – A few weeks ago my mom said, “Let’s clean out your closet.” I thought cleaning out my closet with my mom would be painful, but I agreed because I knew I couldn’t do it on my own. Well, having a functional closet has de-stressed me in more ways than I would have thought. We ended up tackling everything on hangers, the shelves above, AND my dresser. It took less time than I expected and now I can find what I need in no time. Cost: $0

Happy Thanksgiving!

Miscellaneous

Wishing you a happy Thanksgiving!

It was our first gluten free holiday!

What was left over — I took only an “after” shot!

Top (left to right): Popovers (far left corner); mashed potatoes; strawberry jello (all natural); stuffing; “butter”; turkey

Bottom: Sweet potatoes with marshmallows; green bean casserole; cranberry sauce; turkey gravy

Giving thanks for real food, my wonderful family, and good conversation.

My kind of town: Cloud Gate

Chicago photos

I took these photos in October. It was Columbus Day and I was going to my interview with CNN. I decided to have lunch by The Bean. I know it’s supposed to be called “Cloud Gate,” but c’mon. It’s a magical silver bean.

It was a beautiful day. I love those kind of autumn days. Crisp, but warm sunshine. Memories of days like that help me make it through the winter. I hear it’s supposed to be a bad winter, too.

Someone recently asked me if I have taken Charlie to The Bean. I realized that I haven’t. He would probably pass out with joy at the sight of it. I mean, who wouldn’t?

(I’m sharing photos I’ve taken of Chicago during the month of November during my month of daily blogging – NaBloPoMo)

School lunch news: Better lunches for high schoolers

News

Photo: Chicago Tribune

I never heard of the company OrganicLife, but it sounds like they are doing amazing things here in Illinois. The article, Premium food on the plate in Niles high schools, is by Monica Eng. The company uses sales from paying customers to offset the costs of free and reduced lunches.

Chef Ann is quoted in the article saying that the only drawback is the stigma of those who are unable to pay for free lunch. Chef Ann’s program offers the same healthy lunch to all students. I would argue that if all kids are eating better food, even if it is different, than that is a lunch program is successful. What are your thoughts (after reading the article)?

Lunch Wrap Up: Week of Nov 7th

Packed lunches

Recently I chatted with my son’s caregiver to get more information about how the lunches are going over. She told me that he eats well. However, sometimes his lunches are too big and that other times they are too small — then he complains of hunger. I think this is the struggle of many meal planners — how much, how little. Even during my year of school lunch last year, I remember that some meals felt more substantial than others.

Am I wrong to look at these lunch boxes and think they are overflowing with food for a three-year-old? I think some of this comes from that fact that at home, my son doesn’t eat a whole lot at lunch. Normally we might be lucky if he ate half of one of these lunches at home. However, he really will load up one meal per day (sometimes it’s breakfast or dinner and not lunch — it varies).

To think that some days at school he’s still hungry makes me sad, but part of me finds it hard to believe. He is running around and having fun so I can imagine that he is burning more calories at school than he does at home. Still, he spends almost every weekday night throwing footballs and hitting baseballs around the living room — he’s not a couch potato.

However, I get hungry a few hours after lunch. I think it’s very possible that my lunches are too small. I think I need to bulk up my own meals. Also sometimes I need to bulk up my breakfasts because many mornings I can barely find the time to feed everyone and I’m grabbing something on my way out the door.

Many of you asked about the fact that my lunches aren’t matching up to the school’s menu. I stopped doing it because I ran out of time. My son has not seemed to notice. I did mention this to his caregiver and she seemed pretty much indifferent, but hinted that I could check out the menu. I think I’ll try to do a little better matching up his lunches, but overall it seems like a non-issue.

(Also those of you who questioned my declaration that our lunches are “dairy free” — you are right. They are not dairy free because we use goat milk products, but they are cow dairy free.)

Charlie’s lunches

Turkey wrap; mandarin orange; pretzels; toasted squash; brussel sprouts

Charlie is nuts for the wraps and for brussel sprouts. The wraps are made from teff flour (sort-of hard to find). He told me he tried the squash. Child care menu: Baked lasagna, veggie blend, sliced pears, wheat bread

Pasta and sauce; crackers; carrot sticks; egg; sliced pears

This would probably be a lunch that wasn’t enough, but it would have been plenty for a regular home lunch on the weekends. Perplexing. Child care menu: Turkey taco, cheese, lettuce, tropical fruit, tortilla

 Rice and pickles; mandarin oranges; brussel sprouts and BBQ chicken; applesauce

The last week of applesauce containers. I have phased them out. Child care menu: Chicken tenders, salad with ranch dressing, cinnamon apple slices

 Turkey wrap; mandarin orange slices; chickpeas over “grass” (pea shoots); pepitas; applesauce; rice cakes

All I can say is YUM. Child care menu: Turkey hot dog, rice, veggie blend, banana, wheat bun

 Turkey wrap; applesauce; brussel sprouts; chickpeas; pear slices

I asked my son what he wanted for lunch (keep in mind I STRUGGLE with keeping momentum up when packing lunches on Friday). He said turkey wrap. I said ok. Child care menu: Mashed potato bowl, green beans, applesauce, wheat bread.

My lunches

Chicken sausage, squash, brussel sprouts, rice; mandarin oranges; pear sauce, KIND bar

My son didn’t like the pear sauce that I bought at Trader Joe’s so my husband and I are finishing it off.

Butternut squash soup (CSA); chips; BBQ chicken drumstick; sweet potato; carrot (far right)

I had never made butternut squash soup before because, well, I had never purchased a butternut squash before. So I had to do something with the squash I got in the CSA box and then my mom showed up with some more butternut squash that she bought at the farmer’s market. The soup was heavenly, but my son was not a fan.

Turkey wrap; mandarin orange; brussel sprouts

Delicious, but probably not enough food.

 BBQ chicken wrap, raisins; chickpeas; pear sauce

 Now that lunch was filling!

(And Friday 11/11 was Veteran’s Day so I didn’t pack. Instead I stayed home and did a bunch of interviews, like this one on dietsinreview.)

Open thread: Pizza = veggie?

Open threads, The Food

Over the past couple weeks, Congress scaled back the new USDA guidelines for school lunch. First it was potatoes winning their right to stay on the daily menu and now the tomato sauce/paste on pizza will continue to qualify as a veggie. One Twitter friend suggested finding out all of the people who voted on the bill and tweeting them our complaints every day. Well, it looks like Congress found a way to do it off-record: We couldn’t find a record of Congress people’s “Yea/Nay” votes. Those dirty dogs.

I have to confess: I had pizza for dinner tonight. Gluten free and cow dairy free (it is not pictured above). It was a taste explosion. I will not pretend that tonight’s pizza wasn’t a calorie orgy. I don’t eat pizza often, but when I do I make sure that it’s something to remember.

Many of the people who read my blog are accomplished home cooks. Although I don’t put myself in that company, I have been teaching myself how to cook and steadily improving my skills. I know that you guys can make pizzas loaded with veggies. But are school pizzas loaded with veggies?? No. What I found last year was that many school pizzas have 62 ingredients. So they are loaded with lots of things….things we can’t pronounce and things that are doing who-knows-what to people’s insides.

One lunch lady had this to say on YouTube about pizza as a veggie. What she says in 20 seconds is powerful: it’s the truth.

What are your thoughts?