Hockeypucks, Sweet Potatos and Pretentious French Soup......

I don't know how many ricecakes I tried in the 90's.

Oh, my friends raved about them. Everyone touted them as a new, low calorie food. I think the food part was a stretch.

I tried them plain, salted, popcorn flavor, carmel flavor, with toppings, with chocolate chips, hot, cold, almost every possible combination. They tasted like paper to me. I can only surmise that my friends preoccupation with them was a mind-over-matter matter.

I think the good people at Quaker and the other companies that made them had a lot of leftover stuff, that at one time came from rice, and they decided to smoosh it together and sell it. Wikipedia told me that dieters use rice cakes in place of bread, when making a sandwich. I hope Wikipedia is wrong, terribly wrong.

So, when I came across the Parmesan Rice Cakes recipe in the book - I stopped. Bleh. Savory pancakes made with rice? Really? I have never been a fan of sweet foods that are made savory. Pancakes should be sweet with syrup, lobster cheesecake should NEVER have been allowed to happen, don't even get me started on aspic.

But I had just bought a bag of Brown Rose rice, and was dying to use some. Brown Rose rice is rice that is slightly sticky (think sushi rice) and slightly like long grain rice. It is a nice blend with a hint of sweetness. And I'll cook with any ingredient that has the name rose in it. So, out came the rice steamer, and 1 hour later I was in business.

This was a pretty quick and straightforward recipe. Make a batter like pancakes, add rice and parmesan cheese and cook on a griddle. In went sorghum flour, lots of cooked rice, egg, shredded parmesan cheeese, milk, loads of fresh minced garlic and a splash cream. Fry them in melted butter. I love butter, and cream. They make everything taste so much richer. Hey, I never said I was vegan.......

So, I poured them into a hot skillet and hoped I wouldn't have to eat anything too disgusting. They smelled wondeful! And they cooked just like pancakes, bubbled up, browned and flipped with ease. The smell of melting parmesan and garlic filled my kitchen. I had to try them, couldn't even wait until the batch was done. And then I had another. And another. Wow, these were good. Moist, and they had body to them.

Oh, did I forget to mention I was roasting carrots and broccoli in the oven to top them with? Sorry. I was reliving the moment of trying the rice cakes for the first time.

The rice cakes by themselves were lovely. Because the rice still retains a little bit of "pop" in the mouth, they had a nice soft crunch to them. Kind of like steel cut oats. They had a slight pancake-y taste to them because after all, they did have milk and eggs in them. Topped with roasted vegetables, and more cheese they were a complete meal.

These definately made me change my mind about sweet/savory foods. Maybe not about lobster cheesecake, but you never know.

Onto dinner. Quinoa and Sweet potato Salad.

OK, here's another example of a sweet food that I used as savory. Good thing I had the rice cakes to open my mind about using sweet potatos. To me, sweet potatos are to be baked and topped with brown sugar and butter for lunch, or delightfully topped with a bazillion marshmallows at Thanksgiving. I already had the quinoa in the frig, so I boiled some diced sweet potato and threw it in with the quinoa. I dumped in liberal amounts of scallions, garlic and balsamic vinegar. Done. That was it.

Yuh-hum!

Didn't even wait for it to chill. Couldn't. Too yummy.

It had the flavor of my mom's potato salad - but with a little crunch. My mom makes the best potato salad. Honestly. It's not the least bit soupy - I can't stand soupy potato salad - but it takes a lot of work. This took almost no work or time. It had that familiar "pickle" aroma from the onions and vinegar, and at the risk of sounding snobby - it had a more mature taste. I let my daughter try it. She agreed. It was for mature audiences only.

She promptly rinsed her mouth out.

She has never cared for potato salad. Good, more for me. This morning it was even better when it was cold.

I decided today to combat this flu/cold thing that my daughter and I have by making some French Onion Soup. Not the cheese laden, Texas Toast topped soup that food places serve these days. Oh, I love that version too. Just not at home. French onion soup always puts people off as too hard. I think the French try to make food seem more complicated to cook than it really is, so you won't try to do it. Just leave it to professionals. I know, I have been trying to cook it since I was about 12. Always made it harder than it had to be.

So, not feeling well, I decided to just let it cook, and I would eat whatever came out. Now, this is a vegetarian version, so there was no beef. This could be great, or terrible.

Once again, I threw some butter in a really big stock pot and melted it until it was almost browned. Smelled good already. Added several thinly sliced sweet onions and let that simmer for 30 minutes. Easy so far - right? Then I threw in whole garlic cloves, a carton of vegetable stock, several cups of water, and left it there while I cleaned house. OK, I cleaned the playroom. Sort of.

My son asked me to get rid of that "smell" that was in the house. He does not like onions. At all.

Gradually the strong onion smell went away and it was replaced by that hearty aroma that onion soup produces when it is almost done. It thickened up nicely, and I let it cook wayyyyy longer than the recipe suggested. I like a dark onion soup.

Finally.

I threw some grated swiss cheese on top of my soupbowl and dug in. Just what the doctor ordered. It was everything I hoped it would be, and more. No fuss, no real work, just good soup.

It was a good food day, my friends.

Now onto planning my food for watching the royal wedding. If my daughter and I are going get up at 5 in the morning, I need to make it tasty........

Tangerine Dreams and Brussel Sprout Nightmeres

Tangerines and Brussel Sprouts?

And..........unsubscribe.

No, I didn't put them together. But maybe next time....

The tangerines were for my husband, I made him Tangerine Granita.

The brussel sprouts were for my daughter.

Which family member was the luckiest?

Depends on who you ask.

I wanted to try a dessert out of the book, but not a baked one. I wanted something new, something I hadn't tried before. I always like the idea of granita. Ice-y crystals, sugar, pure flavor. What's not to like? So, I picked tangerine/orange granita for my husband. He loves citrus, loves sorbet - so there you have it. I squeezed a few tangerines (they were so ripe they collapsed in my hands) and a few oranges together in a bowl. Then I cooked a sugar syrup.

Wait, you thought I didn't eat corn syrup?

Sugar syrup is nothing like corn syrup. It is very simply, sugar - dissolved in water, and heated until a smooth slightly thickened syrup. The taste is so wonderful! I even use it to moisten my layers of cake before I frost them. Anywhoo, it took about 10 minutes to juice the oranges and make the syrup. Then you put it in a glass pan and throw it in the freezer. Every 30 minutes or so you give it a stir to break the liquid up into ice crystals.

Hmmm....I must have missed a step, that was TOO easy.

That's it. Really.

A few hours later:

I was surprised by the taste - extremely fruity. Really, really, tangerine. Not orange juice concentrate-y - which I don't care for. Pure tangerine. Not too sweet either. Why isn't it orange? Because I use raw sugar, which is golden brown, so my syrup comes out brown. If I would have used refined sugar I would have gotten a nice color, but felt awful.

But the real test came when my husband tried it. Having been around me for a while, his first question was "what's in it?" Raising his eyebrow and looking at me suspiciously for a second longer, he agreed to try it. It passed his taste bud test. Luckily there was enough for seconds and another day or two of leftovers. Now I am imagining all kinds of flavors, and he is imagining I will just leave it alone and not change the recipe.

Onto bigger challenges, 'cause that one was not hard enough.

Brussel sprouts. I know, yum, right???

My first taste of brussel sprouts as a kid was Jolly Green Giant Brussel Sprouts with Cheese Sauce. If I remember right, Jolly Green Giant soaked everything in cheese sauce. It was a lovely time in our culinary history. 

Now, my daughter likes vegetables. But there are some vegees that other kids have told her they don't like and she hasn't believed them about it, but has not not believed them either. I know, was that a triple negative? Is that even grammatically possible? Sounds more like an algebra problem to me.

So, I bought a bag of frozen brussel sprouts. No cheese sauce. Sorry princess.

Now, I had the distinct advantage in the brussel sprout war, in that one of my daughters close friends like brussel sprouts. I could use that as ammunition too............

So brussel sprouts sauteed in garlic and baked was my choice.

Brussel sprouts are just little tiny cabbages! Seriously. I did not know that. No wonder I loved them, I love, love, love cabbage. Cooked, raw, doesn't matter. So after slicing these teeny tiny cabbages in half and not harming my myself, I heated up some olive oil and put them cut side down in the pan. Added in some sliced garlic - yum! The smell was all good. These were not the boiled brussel sprouts you grew up with as a kid that you were forced to eat, trust me.

As they lightly browned, I heated the oven and threw the skillet full of goodness in there.

10 minutes later, a sizzling pan came out of the oven and my daughter came into the kitchen. This was too easy.

Now, with a smoking hot pan full of food bits, you can do two things - you can put water in it to soak and scrub it out, or you can deglaze it. Deglazing is nothing more than adding liquid and scraping up the food bits to make a good glaze. Then you soak and scrape. This recipe called for adding a splash of balsamic vinegar before serving. But I like balsamic vinegar too much for just a splash. So in the pan it went. It thickened up nicely. So, here was the moment of truth....

She took a bite............. and slowly reached for the rest of the bowl and walked away. I managed to grab some and added more vinegar to them and dug in. They were so tasty. No yucky taste, no bitterness, just roasted goodness. And later that night, I threw them in my soup. I ususually end up throwing together some soup at the end of the week with my leftovers. That night's soup was vegetable broth, brown rice, cabbage, white beans, brussel sprouts and parmesan cheese. I also topped it off with some of the leftover bean biscuits for some body. It was divine. And the sprouts added such a  deep, good flavor that I may keep a bag in the freezer from now on. Without the cheese sauce.

Oh yeah, I also tried no-mayo coleslaw. Good, I could see it with some peanut sauce and a Thai chile thrown in for some extra zing. We both agreed that it was o.k., but nothing special. I guess you need just o.k foods every once in a while ;-)

BTW, this weeks total for my meals was $38. And I have plenty of leftover ingredients in my pantry and freezer still. I made my choices for the week, time to go shopping!!!

Charda-no thank you.

It had to happen.

I was going to offend myself with something I cooked.

Swiss Chard.

The Swiss are known for two delightful foods, fondue and chocolate.

Why they would venture into greens are beyond me. I like greens, really. Kale, spinach, lettuce - it's all good. And chard looked so pretty in the store - pink and green, what could be a nicer combination? Turns out, anything.

Chard, at least the variety I tried, is a bitter green. It looks good sauteed, smells good, tastes awful. At least the way I prepared it. When I started cooking thru this book, I was determined to give any food I didn't like up to three chances to redeem itself to my taste buds. Chard does not get those three chances. Bleh. Onto bigger and better things.....like beans.

Can you believe these yummy looking biscuits are made from cooked white beans? Enter White Bean Cakes. Cakes being a word used loosely here. I was intrigued by making biscuits out of beans - how would they stay together? Would they taste like beans? Turns out they stay together well, and they taste nothing like beans.

Now, beans take a lot of preparation and a lot of work. I soaked white beans overnight, and then cooked them in a very large pot for two hours. Hard work. Hee hee. I know canned beans are much more convenient, but homemade taste so much better.

So, beans, eggs, gluten-free flour, slightly carmelized onions and garlic and rosemary are mixed with the beans, and then a large (very large, because I have man-hands) handful of Parmesan cheese went in. Spooned them onto a baking sheet, and into the oven they went. 30 minutes later, golden-brownish little biscuits came out. If I would have added more baking powder they would have risen higher. If I would have pureed the beans, my husband wouldn't know they are in there. (Just checking to see if he's reading this.)

 My daughter enjoyed a dairy-free version, and I enjoyed several cheesy/beany delights. So good. I was tempted to split them open and slather them with butter. I thought that may be overkill. Maybe next time. You can also serve them over marinara sauce, or maybe slather pesto on them instead. Oh, now I may have to make pesto.....

I can see all kinds of variations - sage, garlic, Italian Seasoning, pumpkin seeds, cheddar, Swiss, not all together mind you! That is what a good base recipe is all about, something you can build off of .....meanwhile, in order to offset the salty, cheesy goodness..............

Enter Carrot Cumin Salad.

Cumin? Isn't that for chili?

Yes, but for this recipe it adds a Northern African flavor to a traditional carrot salad. It sounded really clean and refreshing, and it was.

I love simple recipes as much as I love difficult recipes. Both types of recipes yield so much flavor to any food. I can't stand medium recipes, not interesting - no thank you.

But I digress. I'll do that often.

Shredded carrots, salt, pepper, cumin, juice from an orange and a lemon. That's all the recipe called for. But not knowing when to leave well-enough alone, I dabbled. Throw in some Sucanat - wait, what? -  sucanat stands for "sugar cane natural", pure sugar cane juice, dehydrated like sugar - only not refined in any way - the way sugar starts out and was meant to be eaten. Tastes like a delightful light brown sugar, only way better. Then I added some raisins, cilantro, pumpkin seeds and you have a salad that my mom would like to try. At least I think she would! We'll find out in a few months. Maybe I'll throw some jicama in to also. I'll be making her all kinds of things. She just doesn't know it yet.

So it was an interesting food day. I was bound to find something I didn't like in this book, good thing it was a tiny little thing called chard. Bleh. I can still taste it...........bleh.

There's A Rainbow In My Mouth.

Red.
Green.
White.
Yellow.
Beige.
Burgandy.
Black.

Salad.

Gone. My daughter ate it all.

I think it was good, I don't remember tasting much of it.

When you say salad (go ahead, say it), I think American. Typical family salads, lettuce, carrots, tomato, etc. Good, but boring. Really boring. There's always potato salad, always. Always. Everywhere.

Enter the food geek again.

Black quinoa tabbouleh.

Bless you....thanks, but tabbouleh is really a word.

Tabbouleh is a Middle-Eastern salad made from bulgar (couscous), lemon juice, olive oil, parsley, mint, tomatos and onions. It is a pungent salad that should make you wake up and take notice of it immediately. Not overpowering, but strongly acidic. Tangy doesn't even come close. Slap your face, mouth puckering acidic. Really.

Well, bulgar has gluten in it, so I decided to use quinoa again. It is my go-to grain.  Food. Dork.  Go ahead and say it.

But I wanted to try something different. Enter black quinoa.

I found red quinoa at Whole Foods one day, and mentioned it to my daughter. She adamantly refused to try red quinoa, she liked her beige quinoa, thank you very much. Black quinoa was out of the question. Super, more for me. Never having eaten many black foods before outside of licorice, pepper and seaweed - I was a little cautious. So I threw that to the wind  and dug in.

When quinoa is cooked - or really steamed - the germ seperates from the seed. So I had blackish seeds and beige germs. Sound appetizing yet? Are we still talking about something edible? Whole Foods actually sells this? To eat? This sounds like a dare.

So, one cup of quinoa later, I had two cups of cooked quinoa. Really earthy smelling quinoa. Quick - throw in some lemon juice, balsamic vinegar, loads of parsley - quinoa soaks up the flavors and aromas of whatever it comes in contact with when it is warm. Scallions, tomatos and salt were next. Then a long, agonizing wait in the fridge. I know, agonizing? Yes. I can't wait for something to chill that smells so good. So I had to taste it to make sure it wasn't disgusting, and then I made my daughter try it. She stared at it for the longest time, then bravely soldiered on.

'And why havn't we had this before?" she asked indignantly.

Well, it was all over then. Anyone who knows me will tell you that if my kids like something I have to eat, it's theirs. For breakfast, lunch and dinner. And it was.

I managed to eat a few spoonfuls, but it's ok. I have the book.

The Price Is Right!

Well, it's Friday. But you knew that already.

Today is grocery shopping day in our home. So that means I pack up the kids and we go to Whole Foods. We get the items on our list, bring out our recycled bags, try to use some coupons and then I ask the cashier not to tell me the total - I just swipe my card and sigh as I walk out. Loudly. I sigh loudly, not walk out loudly. Although a few times I have done both.......

Now my family has to eat a certain way, we have no choice. I get that. I get that God put a Whole Foods in Orlando just 2 months after we moved here - just as our Trader Joes food ran out. For anyone not familiar with Trader Joes, well, I can't describe it to you. You will just have to visit one. You either "get it", or you don't. I had been shopping at TJ's in California since I was 18. That's a long time......When we started our family, TJ's was a money-saver as we could get organics, interesting foods, groceries, and vitamins for very little money. But they refuse to come to Florida for some reason. So I am stuck shopping at Whole Paycheck.

Don't get me wrong, it's better than the selection offered at Publix (think Pavillions or Von's for my Los Angeles friends) or Albertsons for the food we need. But I miss my Trader Joes, and our money. I read a great comment yesterday regarding the price of food going up and up - someone said - and I'm paraphrasing here -  "that tomato didn't pop out on the vine and decide to raise its price from $.50 to $3.99/lb, someone else decided to". Food is a necessity, and everyone knows that. We will pay whatever we need to for food.

So when I decided to cook thru the book, I wondered if I could afford to substitute the foods I needed to use, in place of what I normally ate and still keep within our budget. I tallied up the cost of eating for a week, and I was shocked.

$35.

Yup.

Really? How is that possible? Simple. It's cheaper to eat healthy than it is to eat not-so-healthy. At least for me.

I would never say to anyone else that they should eat healthier, it's a personal choice. It takes more time and determination to eat this way, but it works for me. I was talking to a friend this week about this little adventure of mine, and I mentioned that this was "just for me". She got that. It makes me happy, and if anyone else in the house wants to try anything I cook, they are welcome to. But this is my thing. And you should have a thing in life that makes you happy. Mine is healthy cooking, for my family. Always has been, always will be.

And I will say this about my body - it's getting pickier with age and eating healthy. I felt great this week eating like this! Absolutely wonderful! But this week, I brought some hummus and 7- layer dip to a pool party. I bought these premade from a grocery store, and dug in when I got to the party. Yum! They tasted so good! I felt terrible after eating them. So terrible afterwards that I didn't feel like eating that night. OK, now you know something was terribly wrong. I never pass on food.

So, I learned that once I removed any food that was really processed or had fillers in it, my body didn't like it when I reintroduced those foods again.  And believe me, I love a good Pop-Tart or Hot Pocket as much as the next person.

This could throw a wrench into my Mom's Night Out dinners..........

Enough of the soapbox. Back to money.

So, I felt great after eating this way for a week. After seeing the total $$, I feel even better. And it can only get better from here. Or at least I hope so, I'm going to Whole Foods again. I hope I don't exit the store loudly.........

Ugly Food and Strange Dreams Ahead........

Sauteed portabello mushrooms may be one of the ugliest foods on the planet. And I just ate four of them.

With half an onion too.

And several tablespoons of butter.

I am now assured of some crazy dreams tonight. Seriously.

Coming home late from a church class tonight, and not having much to eat all day - I was starving. I passed on the previous days dal and rice, because I thought it was too late for spicy food...... So I ate mushrooms instead. Well, they were easy to make and the cast iron skillet makes them all the better.

Throwing in a large pat of butter in a hot skillet smells yummy, then add some sliced onions and it gets better. Throw in sliced portabellos and it is one of nature's finest combinations. Ever walked into a restaurant or buffet where they have these tasty treats just waiting to be served? It makes you hungry immediately.

I have only had giant mushrooms a few times. I know that for a veg it can double as a steak. Interesting. So I left two whole. Grilled them in the pan, and they looked so gross.

Exactly what I wanted them to look like.

Plated them with the onions, and turned around to turn off the stove. Turned back around and they had deflated! All the water, butter, and onion-y goodness had drained out of them on the plate. Bonus! Wait....If I wasn't gluten-free I would have sopped up that juice with some crusty sourdough bread. But now? Ahhhh, bread.....

Portabellos retain a firm texture when cooked, and whole ones slice up into steak like bites. Don't believe me? I let my carnivore daughter poke at it for a bit. She stayed around a little too long, and I offered her a bite. Now, my daughter turns down no food. Seriously. I have tried to raise her to try everything once, and not judge a food by the appearance. She thought the taste was interesting and needed spices. We agreed that this side dish is supposed to be neutral. Good neutral.

So, as it becomes later and later, and I quiet down for the night I am surprisingly full by my simple dinner. OK, don't laugh at my definition of dinner. It's been a week already, and it's only Wednesday. It was quick, easy and tasty.

Let's see what happens tonight when I close my eyes. Something weird, I am sure.....

I don't speak as many languages as I am currently eating.

Inside my fridge, it looks like a U.N. Conference.

Many countries are represented, but unlike the U.N., they are all getting along well with each other.

Sunday, the day of rest, found me in the kitchen. Hamburgers for the boys, chili for my girl, various baked goods for snacks, etc. But what did I feel like?

Well, offhand, I felt achey, tired, grumpy, slightly sick and hungry. Not a good way to feel. But the idea of cooking something new has always boosted my spirits, and I will pretty much drag myself into the kitchen any time of day.

And so I did.

I wanted something filling, spicey, flavorful and warming. Sounds like a day for Indian food. So Masoor Dal was just about right. I know, that's what you were thinking about cooking too, right?

Nothing says comfort like a heaping big bowl of red lentils. So I started with red lentils, that look orange, but are really red, and turn green when cooked. Why not start with traditional green lentils then? Because lentils have their own taste, and cooking properties depending on color. Red lentils fall apart when cooked, making them just right for dipping, spreading or soup. Now, I didn't have all the ingredients for the Dal, so I improvised. Instead or star anise, cardamom and cloves, I chose allspice and tumeric. Add in some chili pepper, garlic cloves and pepper, and you have the beginnings of some good comfort food. 1 hour later, it smelled divine. Never be afraid to substitute spices, you may find out it tastes better than you imagined.

But what should I serve it over? Something hearty like potatos, quinoa or rice - but with a flavor that could match the Dal, but not overpower it. I always have brown rice in the freezer and coconut milk in the pantry. So off to Thailand. For Coconut Rice and nothing else. Coconut rice is rice, simmered in coconut milk and water. OK, you could have deduced that right away, but making it sounds a lot more complicated than it is. For those of you that have never had it, it doesn't taste like an Almond Joy bar. There is no sugar in it, unless you want to make rice pudding. That may be tomorrows breakfast. The coconut milk adds a subtle, creamy taste and aroma. The mouth-feel is very different than regular dry old rice. That is a good thing.

So, dal over coconut rice it was. The coconut rice tends to balance the spiciness of the dal. I added a massive handful of chopped cilantro over the dal, and a splattering of homemade kefir and dug in. Yum. Comfort food. For me.

Breakfast today was not dal, but it could have been..............It was oatmeal and kefir pancakes. The book gives a recipe for savory oatmeal pancakes,which I will try - but I like something sweet in the morning. Since I had leftover Irish oats from the fried oatmeal yesterday, I was in business. 10 minutes later, I was eating little circles of heaven. Browned lightly and topped with butter and a smidge of rasberry jam, I could only eat half a plateful they were so filling. I see a late night snack coming......

Oh, did I mention I still have leftover sauteed greek olives in the fridge? It's like eating at EPCOT, only more tasty and not as expensive. I'll save my total $$ for eating until the end of the week.

The Mother of All Grains and a Cake Doughnut.

Quinoa. It seems to be everywhere you look.

OK, it's everywhere I look.

It's the newest, hottest grain among food geeks like myself. Anytime you are referring to a grain as "new" and "hot" you know you are a tremendous food geek. Let's just get the namecalling out of the way now.

Going gluten free, I am always looking for good nutrition-filled substitutes for the powerhouse that wheat is. Wheat may be filled with fiber, protein and vitamins, but it is toxic to 3 out of 4 members of my family. And possibly the 4th, but he can hold out a lot longer than I did. Trust me.

 Quinoa is called "the mother of all grains" by Incans. Remember your ancient world history class in college? Pre-Columbian Andeans were big on quinoa. It has a very high protein content, high fiber, and for vegetarians, it is a complete protein source. That means it has perfectly balanced amino acids in addition to the protein and fiber. If you have ever read about other cultures seeming to survive on rice and beans, or serving them together at every meal, this is another example of a prefect food. Together they provide everything, structure wise, that a veg. would eat. Told you, food geek.

OK Susi, in plain English please? I ate rice and beans for 1 month for lunch, everyday. I felt great, I didn't feel hungry. I didn't eat as many sweets. I didn't feel bogged down. I didn't miss meat at all. And it tasted good to me. Complete food source. Quinoa, same thing. God knew what he was doing when he created quinoa.

Enter Tangerine, Quinoa and Lentil Salad. Throw in a legume like lentils, and you have a "super" meal. I may not eat again until Tuesday. This salad was lovely, because of the very few, but strongly flavored ingredients. Tangerine juice that was soaked up by the lentils and quinoa. Quinoa and lentils have the unique ability to absorb whatever flavor you throw at them. Tangerine segments providing a bit of sweet, whole garlic cloves simmered in the lentils that mellow with cooking, and a handful of cilantro leaves thrown in after it cooled provided a fragrant salad. Even my daughter tried it, she loves quinoa - but only when it is hot. Now she likes it cold. Imagine the possibilities - red onions, jicama, apples, lemons, grapes, oranges, cantaloupe, potatos, peaches - not together, but separate in this salad. And almost zero fat. Notice there was no oil added........

But this morning I didn't want salad for breakfast. I wanted something breakfast-y. I have oatmeal every morning. Not that mush that we grew up with that contained rolled oat flakes and made a noticeable "sploodooshy" sound as it enticingly came off the spoon. Bleh. Real oatmeal. Irish Steel Cut Oats. Whole oats, chopped in half, cooked slightly so there is a pop and slight crunch when you eat them. Sprinkled with cream, dotted with butter, and topped occasionally with almonds, raisins, or bananas. Why so bland for a self-professed food dork? The simplicity. Food doesn't need to be complicated to taste good, and more often than not, being able to experience individual flavors is very pleasing.

So imagine my surprise when I opened the cookbook and saw a recipe for fried oatmeal. Really? I remember having fried cornmeal once, topped with maple syrup and butter and it was pretty good. Fried polenta topped with marinara sauce and cheese - yum! But fried oatmeal? Not so much. But, I'm not doing this to eat the same old food - so I didn't think about it, I just did it. Kind of like the first time you eat sashimi.

To be fair, it DID smell alot better than sashimi. Melting butter in a skillet, yum. Sizzling slices of steel cut oatmeal in fried butter - even more yum! I flipped the slices and an aroma came out of the pan I couldn't name.....yes, this was a good thing. After plating it, I really gave it a good smell. Over and over. It smelled like something out of a bakery. My daughter and I smelled it, and decided it was a cross between a cake doughnut and french toast. Really. You have to believe me. I know smells. This was amazing, and it came from oatmeal.

I topped the slices with a sautee of soaked raisins, almonds and bananas and a dollop of cream cooked in a hot pan and a sprinkle of raw Turbinado sugar. I really didn't know what to expect. But it tasted like french toast. Smelled like a doughnut. French toast, good. Doughnut, good. For someone who was sad about the fact that she couldn't have a cake doughnut or french toast again - um, this will do very nicely! I almost didn't finish it, because I didn't want it to end. Next time, I will coat the oatmeal slices in egg and milk first, and see what happens. Good things, I am sure of it.

A Sweet Little Cottage....made of cheese

Remember cottage cheese? That lumpy white stuff on the "Dieter's Plate" at every coffee shop? The stuff that, if in your carton of milk, would be thrown out immediately? It really didn't look like cheese at all. It looked like something, well, gross.

I love it.

I honestly do. I have been enamored by cottage cheese since I was little. Tart, tangy, creamy, great mouth feel.

So it was natural that one of my first recipes would involve cottage cheese. Oh, I could have picked any recipe, but why be boring? So, Cottage Cheese Patties it is. Have I lost anyone yet? Stay with me, it gets a lot better. When cottage cheese gets heated up, the most remarkable thing happens, it takes on the characteristics of fried mozzarella. Gooey, warm, and no lumps to be seen. This recipe had three options, and I chose door number 2, and 3. One savory, one sweet. (C'mon, you knew I had to do something sweet!)

Starting with the best possible combination - onions and butter -  in a pan results in the best possible smell on the earth. Then mixed with salt, pepper, egg, fresh dill and cottage cheese the mixture looks more and more appetizing. Little circles, cooking in olive oil until completely melted, filled the kitchen with a heavenly scent. Cheese patties, fried, flipped and on a plate looked so interesting! Hot from the skillet, they were melty goodness. Once refrigerated, they were like soft cheese. Not like brie, but like a soft havarti. Now onto the sweet version......

Cottage cheese mixed with lemon rind, sugar, egg and cinnamon sounded intriguing. I thought the lemon juice would curdle the cottage cheese - but let's face it, it's already curdled. This required butter. And lots of it. Lemon and cinnamon somehow lightened the patties immediately, and the aroma was divine. Eating them was like the texture of mozzarella, but the taste of a good mascarpone infused with lemon. Think cheesecake. But not cheesecake. You had to be there.

Olives. I know, I really should signal before I turn. I decided to switch gears and tackle sauteed olives. (I may have just lost one of my friends at this point, as olives make her queasy) I had never even thought of heating up an olive - except on pizza, or in tamales. For those of you asking what a tamale is, just wait.

Olive oil and garlic in a pan smell really, really good. Mixed with Italian Seasoning and black olives, my daughter exclaimed "What is that delightful smell?". I knew I had her. 5 minutes later we were savoring warm, salty, garlicky olives. No forks. We almost finished the entire plate. Any seasoning can be used in place of Italian seasoning, and it will  be, I am sure of it.

The first recipes were fun, and unusual. Next time I make the Cottage Cheese Patties, I may bake them in the oven in ramekins, cool them, slice them and serve them on crackers. I can see the savory ones on rye crackers, with a bit of smoked salmon or chicken salad on top. And the sweet ones - easy. On Breton Wheat Crackers, or Biscoff Cookies topped with homemade lemon curd. Oh, my mouth is watering just writing about lemon curd........

Simmering on the stove right now is Quinoa, Lentil and Tangerine Salad. Anyone want some?

We can cook like that, trust me.

Food.

I love food. It's all that I ever think about. Ask anyone that knows me well. I am always thinking about my next meal. My kids next meal. My husband's...well, no. To be honest, I never think about his meals. He is pretty self-sufficient. And boring, culinarily speaking. That's good, because it leaves me more time to think about my next meal. (And yes, I know culinarily is not a real word, but it works.)

Food has been a part of my life for as long as I remember. Seriously. Food evokes these memories in me that I cannot describe through words, but that I can taste and smell when I close my eyes. Food was my family's way to connect to each other. It was something to look forward to. Preparation was a time to talk and traditions were made in the kitchen. Blah. Blah. Blah. Everyone that loves food has these same stories it seems. So here is mine, cleaned up, with the family skeletons vacuum sealed and tucked away in the back of the freezer.

Food always starts with mothers and grandmothers it seems. Both of my grandmothers loved and worked with food, in different ways. They both worked in central kitchens for small school districts in Southern California. Central kitchens were the places lunch offerings were prepared, cookies were baked and well-rounded meals were sent to the school district schools to be served by "lunch ladies" in hair nets. But - "lunch ladies" that knew your name, knew how to cook, and enjoyed kids. My Granny worked baking cookies, rolls, breads, etc. Every time I went to see her at work, I got a hot, freshly baked cookie. My Grama worked as what we would now call an Executive Assistant - a secretary, but a good one. Either way, I got a fresh, hot, buttery cookie when I visited either of them.

My Granny, cooked typical Mexican food. Not chimichangas and nachos, but beans, rice and tortillas. I watched her roast green chiles over a gas stove and turn them into salsa verde. I learned how to make tortillas by hand, with no cookbook. The need for flour depended on how dry the air was or how moist the dough was. I watched her flip and shape five tortillas faster than I could ever make one. She cooked chorizo, eggs, and the best potatos that I have never been able to duplicate. There was a whole herb garden in her patio. She did not have any fancy pans, just cast iron skillets and a few small stockpots. When my grandfather bought her a set of non-stick pans, I'm not sure she knew what to do with them! Every Christmas brought tins of cookies, tiny little cookies. She tried to see how many cookies she could get out of each batch of dough. Teeny-tiny cookies. Good cookies though......Granny was not so good with meat. I ate really, really, dry overdone roasts, tough inexpensive steaks, salmon patties, and tongue. Yes, beef tongue. Feeling taste buds from a cow on your taste buds is an experience I will never forget.

My Grama, on the other hand, gave me another food experience. Grama was widowed at too early of an age, and her kids left home soon after. She settled into life, in an apartment, and liked her routine. I remember her eating the same thing every morning. And it was that familiarity that I loved. Eggs, bacon, toast and coffee every morning. Every morning. Oh the smell of cooking bacon! Maybe she would mix it up with a biscuit on the weekends. Pork chops cooked to crispy perfection, Lawry's spaghetti sauce, Portuguese Pot Roast, Chicken casserole, salad with Salad Supreme Seasoning, Cracker Barrel cheese. Good, simple comfort food that I love. There were holiday meals that were prepared by her and my mom, to feed crowds some years - or just close family other years. She didn't veer too much from the simple classic American foods that she loved, but that is what I adored about her.

My mom, of course, has had a role in my love of food. She taught me how to cook my first meal, scrambled eggs. She instructed me, but did not partake of, my first omelet. I was 9 years old, and made an omelet of eggs, cinnamon and chocolate chips. Clearly, I was much more a baker than cook.

 It was many years later, that my mom trusted my with starting meals after I was home from high school. I complained about it, but secretly, I was fascinated by the science behind browning a pot roast, steaming chicken under foil in the oven, learning how to make Bridgeford rolls, and watching the prime rib cook, before holiday meals. But it wasn't until I was in my twenties that my mom unknowingly lit a fire under me. We loved looking at cooking magazines. I picked up a copy of Gourmet magazine's Anniversary Issue and saw the most amazing creation on the front - Raspberry Dacquiose. I took it home and showed it to my mom and I talked about how beautiful it was. She remarked that "wouldn't that be great, but you and I can't cook like that". Then, my step-father remarked later that I couldn't possibly make a cheesecake that I saw on another foodie magazine cover. I saw those statements as a challenge. Grand Marnier Strawberry Cheesecake was his on Father's Day. And it was good. Hmph. Enter stubborness and tenacity in the kitchen. I love my mom for inadvertantly lighting a fire under me.

Oh, I guess I'll mention my father. He loves food too. He introduced me to many good restaurants in Orange County - some dives, some elegant. He showed me how to grill salmon, I ate pesto for the first time after he returned from Italy, along with biscotti (the real stuff, not the ones in coffee houses), loved the taste and texture of torrone, and ate anything he cooked. I made a Bailey's Chocolate Chip Cheesecake for dessert after one of his art shows, and he loved it and encouraged me to cook more. Gladly.

So long story short, 24 years later and I am now gluten-free and basically a vegetarian. I am amazed I don't weigh 300 pounds because of what food means to me. I do have about 200 cookbooks, most have been read at least once. Most of them contain gluten-filled ingredients and meat-lovers dishes.Some are falling apart. I am an easy sale for a vintage cookbook. My mother-in-law had quite a few cookbooks. And even though I never met her, her handwriting, experience and cooking dreams live on in the collection of her cookbooks and recipes that I have inherited from her. Of course she was a culinary dreamer and I know why, I am married to her son. I love that hamburger or taco night make him happy. But I think we would have cooked our way through this book together, just because it would be so exciting.

So, because I have nothing better to do, I am going to cook my way through Mark Bittman's "How To Cook Everything Vegetarian". This book is one of my four go-to cookbooks. I am not going to cook every recipe, because I know how to make rice, how to boil and egg, and how to tear up a good salad. But I will be doing all the extras to the salad, trying the different flavorings for the rice and using a whole lot of eggs. Any recipe here can have meat added to it for you carnivores. I am not going to cook every recipe in order, because I love eating different things at every meal. But, I am cooking the book. Partly to see if I can, and partly to show my beautiful daughter that there is a whole world of food out there. We can cook like that, trust me.

Thanks for joining me!