Family dinners: our anchor

Tonight we were all laughing at the dinner table. Several of us had somewhat rough/blah days, but dinnertime seemed to "re-set" everybody. We all really need that time together at the end of the day.

We're a family that most always eats dinners together. It's very rare that one of us is gone -- we make it a priority to eat together, no matter how busy our lives get.

Not many American families eat dinner together regularly anymore. There have been studies correllating how well children do with how often their families eat dinner together. Statistics like that can't prove any causalities, but it sure seems reasonable to think that there's perhaps an underlying cause. Families need anchors, and dinnertime is such an important one -- it helps "center" everybody.

It's not easy to find family time with teenage kids, not when so many activities are scheduled. Especially when it comes to sports! I don't see how families manage with multiple kids in several sports. What amazes me, in a way, is the contradiction between sports (something good for health) and fast food that invariably gets eaten because nobody has time to cook (duh!).

Yes, I do spend a lot of time preparing my family's meals. It's not difficult -- just takes some planning, and an appreciative family (and I sure have one -- even if they joke, as this evening, about checking the "cauliflower index" of the meal before sitting down to dinner. We all had a hearty laugh, as our CSA box has been supplying us with a heavy dose of the Brassica family lately!

Sometimes I don't know just how time passes so quickly. Wasn't just summer? Weren't the kids in diapers not so long ago? Sunrise, sunset, swiftly flow the days...

Sunrise, Sunset
from Fiddler on the Roof

Is this the little girl I carried? Is this the little boy at play?
I don't remember growing older When did they?
When did she get to be a beauty? When did he grow to be so tall?
Wasn't it yesterday When they were small?
Sunrise, sunset Sunrise, sunset
Swiftly flow the days
Seedlings turn overnight to sunflowers
Blossoming even as we gaze
Sunrise, sunset Sunrise, sunset
Swiftly fly the years
One season following another
Laden with happiness and tears

What words of wisdom can I give them? How can I help to ease their way?
Now they must learn from one another, Day by day
They look so natural together, Just like two newlyweds should be
Is there a canopy in store for me?
Sunrise, sunset...

Why so much sugar?!?

I'm not anti-sugar, but really, why is American food so super sweetened?!?

Today I bought a smoothie at the grocery store (having just finished a workout and needing something to hold me over for teaching). I usually make my own smoothies, but this morning I got out of the door and sort-of forgot to eat a substantial breakfast -- and I don't go too far on just a cup of coffee w/ biscotti.

Anyway, I bought this "dairy beverage" and it was TERRIBLY sweet. Turns out to not only to contain HFCS (High Fructose Corn Syrup) but a long list of other ingredients like sucralose and other artificial ingredients I was not familiar with, and I could not get it down. Not wanting to waste food, I later tried to "thin" it down with OJ and plain (unsweetened yoghurt) -- what a waste -- I still could not drink the stuff. YUCK! I finally tossed it.

Busy day today, and for dinner Liesl made a quick pizza using a commercial pizza sauce (the one that comes in the Boboli pizza crust package) -- yikes, again, way too sweet!

I keep on cutting sugar out of American recipes -- last week I made zuccini muffins in an attempt to make a dent in our zuccini stash -- I ended up cutting the recipe's sugar in half!
Kids were happy: it was still plenty sweet.

So if you're wondering why I don't blog much anymore -- too busy gardening, working and cooking from scratch...

Pastel de Choclo (Chilean Corn Pie)

This is a family favorite, a main dish from my youth in Chile. The word choclo is a "chilenismo" for maize or corn, probably a native indian word. The word pastel means cake, but pie would be a better translation. There are many savory-sweet pastels in Latin American cooking: the combination of sweet (sugar, raisins) and savory (meat, olives, etc) is unusual to the American or European palate, but it works!
Best made with fresh corn, frozen sweet corn works quite well and makes it a relatively easy meal if you have food processor. Since American corn is plenty sweet, I leave out the added sugar, and my family prefers if I skip the raisins that are traditionally mixed into the meat.

Pastel de Choclo
The meat part:
1 # ground beef (I use 1/2 # ground beef plus 1 can of black beans)
1 onion, chopped
1-2 cloves garlic
2-3 T cumin
1 t+ paprika or chile powder, to taste
salt, pepper
optional (traditional): 1/2 c raisins, black olives, sliced hardboiled egg

Cook meat, and drain liquid if needed. Add spices to taste. Spread in the bottom of a wide casserole dish, cover with corn topping, and bake until topping is browned slightly (approx. 3o-40 min)
The corn topping:
3-4 c corn kernels
1 egg
traditional: sugar, evaporated milk to taste

In my childhood, I remember many hours were spent grating the kernels directly from the cobs around harvest time. Now I just defrost the corn, and process into a paste together with an egg and some milk (if needed).

Tourlu -- a great way to cook up a mess of vegetables

We're soon leaving on vacation, and I've got a bunch of vegetables to use up before we leave.
Came across a great recipe in the cookbook "Real Stew" by Clifford A. Wright, by the name of Tourlu: it's a Greek version of a Vegetable Stew from Turkey. I'd even describe it as a Moussaka without the meat!

This dish is really not a stew in the sense of coking with broth; rather, it's a baked dish -- slowly roasted vegetables coated in olive oil. Most recipes call for potatoes, but the one I used tonight featured parsnips. I used neither, and substituted carrots, of which I currently have A LOT.
Plus, of course, I've got the zuccini!!!
What drew me to the recipe is not only that it called for roasting veggies coated in olive oil, but that it asked for leeks, which I adore. I also had a bulb of fennel (it did not ask for that), but I thought it might fit in perfectly.
The basic idea is to cut up a bunch of veggies, and roast them -- just up my alley. Seasoning listed were garlic (but of course!), fresh cilantro leaves, cinnamon, salt and pepper.
It's not the prettiest dish, but very tasty, and it promises that the flavors improve by the second day. I'm looking forward to munching on the left-overs.

Over dinner, when I asked the family for feedback, my son asked:
"What do you mean "next time" -- do you HAVE to cook this again?"
I just cracked up! Well, I had left out the cinnamon in fear of alienating my eaters, but they thought it should go back in (on the other hand, the fennel was not everybody's favorite), and the general consensus was for more herbs and spices. It's not the prettiest dish, but who cares?!?

Soooo, now I'm searching the internet for more versions of Tourlou, and here's what I'll probably try next time:

Tourlou (Greek Vegetables)
Onions and/or leeks
potatoes, carrots or parsnips
bell peppers
zuccini
tomatoes (fresh or canned)
optional: eggplant, green beans, okra, fennel?
olive oil
garlic
fresh herbs: either parsley, oregano, cilantro or dill (but probably not all!)
cinnamon, paprika?
salt, pepper

Toss vegetables with olive oil. Bake for 1-1.5 hours in heavy casserole dish. Serve with Greek bread and Feta cheese, or as a side dish to meat.

Photo credit: http://latimesblogs.latimes.com

Smoked Cheddar and Jalapenos Dip

What to do on yet another COOL Alaskan summer day, with rain, in the 50's?
-bake Christmas cookies or a pumpkin pie
-make a big pot of stew, chili, or legumes
-bake bread or Dingo Dave's wonderful cheddar-bacon mini muffins (*recipe here)

Today I smoked me some cheddar -- that's what I do when I ran out of salmon to smoke!
It's incredibly easy to do: I buy me a big hunk of sharp cheddar at Costco, cut it up into chunks about 1.5 - 2 inches tall, place it on the highest rack of the smoker, and give it 1 panful of chips (alder/ apple/cherry) for about 2 hours of a cool smoke. (I recommend you don't do this on a very hot day -- if you don't care for dripping cheese all over your smoker -- yup, I've done that!)

Here is the RECIPE for a tasty and easy party dip that uses smoked cheddar:
1 c shredded smoked cheddar
1 jalapeno pepper, diced very finely
combination of sour cream, cream cheese, ranch dressing and/or mayo -- approx 1 c total
optional: chili powder
salt and pepper to taste

Just mix it all up, and serve with crackers and vegetables as an appetizer.

A Trifle for dessert

Yesterday we had a potluck at work, and our resident Brit made TRIFLE for dessert.
This gentleman is famous for his desserts, and this was no exception -- it was excellent. Soooo, I decided to research the topic and find out what makes a trifle.

From Wikipedia:
A trifle is a dessert dish made from thick (or often solidified) custard, fruit, sponge cake fruit juice or gelatin, and whipped cream. These ingredients are usually arranged in layers with fruit and sponge on the bottom, and custard and cream on top... The earliest known use of the name trifle was for a thick cream flavoured with sugar, ginger and rosewater, the recipe for which was published in England, 1596, in a book called "The good huswife's Jewell" by Thomas Dawson.It wasn't until sixty years later when milk was added and the custard was poured over alcohol soaked bread (such as sweet sherry, madeira wine or port).

English Trife
RECIPE from the Brit, more or less, who says this is what's traditionally made on Mondays with the left-overs from the weekend's baking for company.
sponge cake
sweet sherry or port (alternatively, fruitjuice/ gelatin)
vanilla pudding or custard
seasonal fresh fruit: pears, bananas, grapes, cherries, berries, etc (save prettiest for top)
whipped cream, sweetened

Cut sponge cake and layer 1/3 in clear glass bowl. Soak cake with al-ki-hol.
add 1/3 of fruit, arranged nicely. Pour 1/3 of custard over fruit, and 1/3 of whipped cream.
Repeat with cake, fruit, custard layer. Lastly, decorate with fruit.

Note: Obviously you can make this without booze (and substitute juice, gelatin) -- but then the kids might want some too!

Mocha-Chocolate Trifle
now this is right up my alley!

brownie or other chocolate cake
Kahlua or other compatible alcohol
chocolate pudding (optional, dissolve some instant coffee granules in the milk)
fruit: cherries, strawberries, etc
whipped cream (flavored w/ cocoa, coffee or liqueur if desired)
optional: slivered almonds, chopped toffee bars

same idea as before.

Kitchen chores - done by house elves!

In our household, kitchen chores get done by house elves, even though our last name is not Malfoy! For those few of you who may not know what house elves are: they're servants (more like slaves) in the wizarding world of Harry Potter. Dobby (pictured), is a house elf. Beloved by many a Harry Potter fan, with his big eyes, big ears, and heart of gold, he saves Harry Potter's life numerous times, ultimately dying for him in the last book (sob!)

But back to kitchen chores, like parents all over the world, we've struggled to find a good arrangement for our young brood to help with the daily kitchen chores. Somebody's got to do the dishes, and besides, it builds character! The obvious one was for the kids to take turns: today it's your turn, tomorrow your sister, etc... And they, in turn, started referring to their assigned day as "house elf" day, reflecting the fact that in their own minds, having been assigned to wash dishes was just shy of slavery!

But there was always squabbling, and they begged us to revise the system. For one thing, each child seemed to feel very "put out" when the other did not have to do any chores on that particular day (nothing is worse than having to do chores while your sibling is watching!). SO, they kept on wanting to change the system, and after a while we reluctantly agreed, ok, why don't you come up with your own system!

Here is what they came up with -- yes, it's complicated, but they seem satisfied, and it works!
1st day (Monday): The "Clean" house elf empties the dishwasher and sets the table -- in other words, takes care of the clean dishes and helps with dinner prep. The "Dirty" house elf clears the table, helps put food away, and loads the dishwasher (not their favorite job!!!).
Next day: reverse

Simple enough, but how about the trash? To a parent that sounds like a clear-cut job for the "dirty" house elf -- but even that got more finely sub-divided: there's the actual carrying of the trash to the garage ("dirty" job"), putting in the new liner, and doing the recycling ("clean").

I admit that we parents did some eye-rolling at all the negotiating that takes place, but I now realize a couple of important things:
#1 they're doing it, with less reluctance than when we assigned their tasks point-blank.
#2 they like each other's company -- and they're often found negotiating finer points among themselves, like "If you can put that pan away and refill the ice cube tray, then I'll scrub the pancake mess off the counter, and then we can make cookies together after dinner..."
#3 there's power in self-determination- even among mere house elves!