Friday, April 22, 2011
Food brings people together
As most of us prepare for Easter weekend, many of us will partake in a meal, whether we prepare it ourselves or just gobble it up and praise the cook who takes hours of his or her time preparing it, we will eat belly-warmin', home-cooked food. Isn't it funny how food has always been, since the dawn of time, and will probably always remain at the center of our culture and cultures worldwide? We seem to find any excuse to get a group of people together to share in food, be it appetizers or a turkey dinner. We celebrate birthdays, graduations, new jobs, new babies, new houses, sporting events and holidays with food. People now like to have dinner parties to watch a favorite show. My roomate in college, Amy, and I would always make black beans and rice for dinner on the nights when The Bachelor was on television. What I feel underlies this way about us as a people is tradition and stability. The coming together of people over a meal, be it two or two hundred, promotes bonds of ideas and feelings. When you sit at a table with family or friends, you can look around at each person and feel connected to them as your share in a meal with them. Time stands still for a few short minutes as everyone eats and enjoys flavors new or old to them and has the ablility to relax. In our fast-paced society, I don't think many of us know how to take a minute and breath. I am definitely calling the kettle black on this one. I am definitely the one who likes to stay busy and serve and make sure presentation is set for all. But, when I do just sit and relax and enjoy the event, it sure does make an impression on me and stays with me in my memory. The value of a meal in someone's home goes far beyond satisfying the sense of hunger and reaches in to the emotions and sense of belonging with those you choose to serve. So, if you are the one cooking this weekend, then hats off to you and try to stop for a moment and enjoy your guests and realize what you have done for them. And if you are the lucky ones who just get to enjoy the fruits of the cook's labor, then remember to thank them graciously for their work. Happy Easter!
Tuesday, April 12, 2011
Bland food makes for boring meals
Recently, I have had the opportunity to talk with a few of my friends about their eating styles and their desire to make food more interesting in order to stay more motivated to eat healthier. I find that when someone desires to eat healthier to lose weight or just to live a healthier life, they can tend to get stuck in a rut of a piece of barely spiced, lean chicken, steamed broccoli and rice. No matter how much you can eat the same meal over and over again, you will get sick of that and "fall off the wagon" and go back to the yummy comfort foods that normally aren't the best for you.
While talking with my friend Letitia about her desire to change her eating habits in order to be healthier, we talked about this concept of boring food. I asked her what she did with her vegetables and how she seasoned them to make them more appetizing. When I suggested adding rosemary to her green beans, she said she had never thought of that before. She asked me to post my recipe that I make on a very regular basis. I call it "Rosie's Rosemary Green Beans". If you have never tried pairing rosemary and green beans, try it this week (or when green beans are on sale in your grocery store :) and let me know how you like it.
Another aspect we talked about was spices. If you are anything like me, you don't like to spend $3-$4 on a bottle of a spice and not like it or use it. Admittely, I have become quite a spice junkie. I have an enormous collection of spices and mixtures. I like to pick them up whenever they look interesting, especially on vacation. I remember a trip everytime I use it in my cooking. The way I started out my collection was buying one new and different spice a month and trying to find a few uses for it in my cooking. Voila, I now have an entire shelf in my cupboard dedicated to these tiny bottles filled with yummy goodness. I love having spices and flavors on hand when I need them. I find if I have it on hand, I will use it as opposed to having to buy it in order to make a dish. It's all about convenience, right?!
If there are foods you have questions about like "what do you do with a butternut squash?", leave a comment, and I will post my ideas and any related recipes I have made up with the ingredients you are interested in. It's all about investigating flavors and trying new things.
While talking with my friend Letitia about her desire to change her eating habits in order to be healthier, we talked about this concept of boring food. I asked her what she did with her vegetables and how she seasoned them to make them more appetizing. When I suggested adding rosemary to her green beans, she said she had never thought of that before. She asked me to post my recipe that I make on a very regular basis. I call it "Rosie's Rosemary Green Beans". If you have never tried pairing rosemary and green beans, try it this week (or when green beans are on sale in your grocery store :) and let me know how you like it.
1 pound green beans, rinsed and ends snapped
1 tablespoon light butter
1/2 teaspoon crushed dried rosemary
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
v Place green beans in large nonstick skillet in one inch water over medium heat and cover. Steam until desired texture. Add in butter and melt. Sprinkle with rosemary, sugar and salt. Stir until green beans begin to brown. Serve warm.
Serves: 4-6
Another aspect we talked about was spices. If you are anything like me, you don't like to spend $3-$4 on a bottle of a spice and not like it or use it. Admittely, I have become quite a spice junkie. I have an enormous collection of spices and mixtures. I like to pick them up whenever they look interesting, especially on vacation. I remember a trip everytime I use it in my cooking. The way I started out my collection was buying one new and different spice a month and trying to find a few uses for it in my cooking. Voila, I now have an entire shelf in my cupboard dedicated to these tiny bottles filled with yummy goodness. I love having spices and flavors on hand when I need them. I find if I have it on hand, I will use it as opposed to having to buy it in order to make a dish. It's all about convenience, right?!
If there are foods you have questions about like "what do you do with a butternut squash?", leave a comment, and I will post my ideas and any related recipes I have made up with the ingredients you are interested in. It's all about investigating flavors and trying new things.
Monday, April 4, 2011
Your favorite food memories...
I had a wonderful trip to the grocery store yesterday. For the most part, I always enjoy grocery shopping. Sometimes I dread going but always seem to enjoy my time once I get there. It took some getting used to when I had my daughter. Her carrier was too big to fit on the top of the cart, so I had to fit it in the body of the cart. Let me tell you, those first 4-5 months, we were on quite the budget because I could only fit about $40.00 worth of groceries in there because she took up so much room in the cart. :) I was excited once she could sit up in the front of the cart with me so she could look around and enjoy the sights of the food and that I got my space back and didn't have to go three times a week to keep enough food in the house! She really enjoys looking at the food, and sometimes has to sample a few things before we make it to the checkout lane.
All that to say, while grocery shopping solo yesterday, I sat in front of an item that I have looked at for years with wondernment. Have you ever seen that bread in a can that is sold near the canned foods? It's brown bread...in a can! I have always been puzzled by the concept of bread in a can. I have seen it for years and always wondered, "Who eats that?!". Well, I decided to ask the question of my mom. I called her when I left the store and asked her if she knew anything about this bread in a can business. She laughed and proceeded to tell me about her fond memories from her childhood of that exact item. She said it was always present at special family meals and that when eaten with cream cheese, it was to die for! She said it was very moist and must have gobs of molasses in it because it is very dark. She then went on to tell me a few other items she remembered eating as a child and what great memories it brought to her of her and mom. I plan to buy some of this bread in a can the next time I am at the store and eat some with my mom to bring back a warm memory for her. :)
I began to think of foods I ate when I young that bring back fond memories. One food is avocado. My mom would split an avocado in two, pierce it with a fork and sprinkle soy sauce on it...yummo! She and I would share that as a special treat. I wasn't allowed dairy when I was young, but every now and then, my dad would let me have a snack size container of Haagen Daz. He sold it in the health food store, and I would always salivate over it in the freezer section. So, when I got one of those, I savored each bite like it was my last meal. My dad lived on a huge piece of land in Hawaii that had mango trees on it. We would sit in the tall grass and eat mangoes until we were sick! We would also grill fish on the weekends when I would stay with him, nothin' like Hawaiian Mahi-Mahi over charcoal. Those foods can take me back to being a young girl in Hawaii, and I can almost smell the same smells and feel the air that surrounded me as a child. Those are wonderful memories that will be with me always.
So, I have a question then for you? What are your favorite food memories?
All that to say, while grocery shopping solo yesterday, I sat in front of an item that I have looked at for years with wondernment. Have you ever seen that bread in a can that is sold near the canned foods? It's brown bread...in a can! I have always been puzzled by the concept of bread in a can. I have seen it for years and always wondered, "Who eats that?!". Well, I decided to ask the question of my mom. I called her when I left the store and asked her if she knew anything about this bread in a can business. She laughed and proceeded to tell me about her fond memories from her childhood of that exact item. She said it was always present at special family meals and that when eaten with cream cheese, it was to die for! She said it was very moist and must have gobs of molasses in it because it is very dark. She then went on to tell me a few other items she remembered eating as a child and what great memories it brought to her of her and mom. I plan to buy some of this bread in a can the next time I am at the store and eat some with my mom to bring back a warm memory for her. :)
I began to think of foods I ate when I young that bring back fond memories. One food is avocado. My mom would split an avocado in two, pierce it with a fork and sprinkle soy sauce on it...yummo! She and I would share that as a special treat. I wasn't allowed dairy when I was young, but every now and then, my dad would let me have a snack size container of Haagen Daz. He sold it in the health food store, and I would always salivate over it in the freezer section. So, when I got one of those, I savored each bite like it was my last meal. My dad lived on a huge piece of land in Hawaii that had mango trees on it. We would sit in the tall grass and eat mangoes until we were sick! We would also grill fish on the weekends when I would stay with him, nothin' like Hawaiian Mahi-Mahi over charcoal. Those foods can take me back to being a young girl in Hawaii, and I can almost smell the same smells and feel the air that surrounded me as a child. Those are wonderful memories that will be with me always.
So, I have a question then for you? What are your favorite food memories?
Saturday, April 2, 2011
A little background...
Thank you to everyone for your support about my new little venture. I appreciate your kind words. :)
So, as I said in my first post, Rosy and I were raised very differently. My close friends know the details of me being raised by two crazy hippie parents who were way into nutrition. I have to say they taught me so much growing up and instilled in me great wisdom about the value of health and nutrition. My mom started her Shaklee business about 40 years ago now. She and my dad grew that business into a success of great proportions. Their success took them to Hawaii for a conference one year. While there, they fell in love and decided they had to move there! My dad ran a health food store, and my mom continued her thriving Shaklee business even in Hawaii. My foundations were set then. I grew up eating millet, brown rice, vegetables, tahini, seed cheese, no dairy or wheat, no meat until I was 8, etc. My mom grew her own wheatgrass and juiced almost daily. We ate amazingly healthy food. As a child, I didn't know any different. It wasn't until I got a bit older and we moved back to Florida from Hawaii that I realized that we ate differently, and I didn't like that very much because it wasn't very cool. But, the foundations were set, and I learned more than I realized.
As I sat and thought about it the other day, I feel like the very first moments of attraction to cooking and food took place when I was in 6th grade. My Nana Richardson sent me the little cookbooks you can pick up in the check-out lane at the grocery store. You know the ones I am talking about: "50 cookies in 5 minutes"or "Weeknight Meals in less than 30 minutes". :) I used to love to just sit and look at the recipes and pictures. I actually did some cooking even then. I used to get frozen pierogies from the store and cook them with sauteed onions. You remember that mom? Anyhow, my Grandma Sharlyn also sparked an interest in me for cooking as well during that same time frame. I visited her and my Grandpa Walt in Nebraska. She loved to cook and gave me a copy of the Smithfield Community Cookbook, which I still have. That was my first cookbook, and I treasured it. I decided then that I wanted to be a cook one day and make good food that my family would enjoy and love.
Fast forward through a lot of crazy years with moving and ups and downs in life to my college years at the University of West Florida in Pensacola. I received my A.A. from Gulf Coast Community College and then moved to Pensacola to finish my degree. My senior year was a memorable year. I lived with two fabulous girls that year, Amy and Letitia. We lived in a spacious 4 bedroom house with a great kitchen. My fondest memories of our cooking experiences there include our Black Beans & Rice night and then watching an episode of The Bachelor. :) Also, I imparted some of my first bits of knowledge about better eating on to my friends. I ate a lot of salads in school, and apparently, Amy didn't realize that salads could be made with lettuce other than iceburg. :) Green leaf lettuce became a staple vegetable on her grocery list after that. We enjoyed cooking and creating during that time, and I think it prepared us for feeding our husbands one day.
Matt and I got married June 21, 2003. I had a mammoth task ahead of me as I was going to try to fill the shoes of his mom who is a great cook. Matt and I had some food differences such as I didn't prefer red meat since I did not grow up eating it. That first year of marriage was a learning year for sure. I think back to some things I was so proud I had made...lame-o! Little by little though, I was learning and picking up knowledge of how to cook as I spent more and more time in my cookbooks and online.
We moved to Connecticut in 2004, and I have to say that is where my LOVE for cooking and eating healthy really exploded. The first two years we were there, Matt attended Yale's physician assistant program while I worked. My habit became this: I would look up recipes on a few of my favorite sites and then I would come home from work and just create. I would take the framework of the original recipe and then "Summerize" it. :) One of the things I noticed in so many recipes, especially the "easy, 5 ingredients or less" types of recipes was that there was never any flare. So many recipes would use outrageous amounts of fat sources and no herbs or spices. I could not understand that. That is when I started experimenting with combining flavors and started to get a handle of melding flavors and allowing food to shine. Now, all this was done in the tiniest kitchen you can imagine, too. :) I had one countertop to use that was about 18-20 inches across, but somehow, I made it work. It was such an amazing time in our lives. We lived in a 425 sq. foot. apartment for two years. We then moved into an 880 sq. foot apartment, woo hoo! I had a bit more space in this kitchen but still a bit cramped. I finally landed a job at Yale. I had always hoped and prayed for a chance to work there, but I never thought it would happen as Yale is a union. If you are an external applicant, it's very difficult to even get an interview let alone a position. But, a precancerous mole and my natural ability to talk :) got me a position at Yale Surgical Dermatology. Upon checking out from my appointment that day, I was hired as a temp. by the office manager. My time at Surgical Derm. is and most likely will be some of my best working memories. The ladies and few gentlemen that I worked with there were amazing! I ended up becoming the cake lady while I worked there. I made a cake at the beginning of each month to celebrate the birthdays in the office that month. I really enjoyed doing that for everyone I worked with, and they were pleased that it wasn't the boring coconut cake each month that was purchased from university catering. We engaged in many talks about food and cooking and nutrition in that kitchen during lunchtime each day. Most days, someone would ask me what I had and how did I make it. It occurred to me even then that so many women are afraid of the kitchen and especially with experimenting. During those two years, I became even more adventurous in the kitchen, and I felt like I was actually creative. I have never been one to enjoy creative projects. But, I think during my time in my, though they were small, kitchens while living in Connecticut, I found that cooking is my outlet and a place where my mind runs free and allows me to be creative in so many ways.
Since moving back to my hometown of Panama City in late 2008, my husband and I have built a home and had a baby. Needless to say, my time in the kitchen has been slashed in the last year with the addition of our baby girl. I have gone through some times of wondering why I didn't feel myself, and then it would occur to me that I hadn't done the kind of cooking I am accustomed to. I still cook and prepare food for us each day and night; however, I haven't felt as creative nor had the time to really devote to creating and cooking. It has made me realize how being in my kitchen actually is a part of who I am as a woman, wife and mother. It is my domain, my sphere, and though my life has changed with my little shadow at my heels now, my life in front of my spices and stove have and will continue to ebb and flow with time.
So, as I said in my first post, Rosy and I were raised very differently. My close friends know the details of me being raised by two crazy hippie parents who were way into nutrition. I have to say they taught me so much growing up and instilled in me great wisdom about the value of health and nutrition. My mom started her Shaklee business about 40 years ago now. She and my dad grew that business into a success of great proportions. Their success took them to Hawaii for a conference one year. While there, they fell in love and decided they had to move there! My dad ran a health food store, and my mom continued her thriving Shaklee business even in Hawaii. My foundations were set then. I grew up eating millet, brown rice, vegetables, tahini, seed cheese, no dairy or wheat, no meat until I was 8, etc. My mom grew her own wheatgrass and juiced almost daily. We ate amazingly healthy food. As a child, I didn't know any different. It wasn't until I got a bit older and we moved back to Florida from Hawaii that I realized that we ate differently, and I didn't like that very much because it wasn't very cool. But, the foundations were set, and I learned more than I realized.
As I sat and thought about it the other day, I feel like the very first moments of attraction to cooking and food took place when I was in 6th grade. My Nana Richardson sent me the little cookbooks you can pick up in the check-out lane at the grocery store. You know the ones I am talking about: "50 cookies in 5 minutes"or "Weeknight Meals in less than 30 minutes". :) I used to love to just sit and look at the recipes and pictures. I actually did some cooking even then. I used to get frozen pierogies from the store and cook them with sauteed onions. You remember that mom? Anyhow, my Grandma Sharlyn also sparked an interest in me for cooking as well during that same time frame. I visited her and my Grandpa Walt in Nebraska. She loved to cook and gave me a copy of the Smithfield Community Cookbook, which I still have. That was my first cookbook, and I treasured it. I decided then that I wanted to be a cook one day and make good food that my family would enjoy and love.
Fast forward through a lot of crazy years with moving and ups and downs in life to my college years at the University of West Florida in Pensacola. I received my A.A. from Gulf Coast Community College and then moved to Pensacola to finish my degree. My senior year was a memorable year. I lived with two fabulous girls that year, Amy and Letitia. We lived in a spacious 4 bedroom house with a great kitchen. My fondest memories of our cooking experiences there include our Black Beans & Rice night and then watching an episode of The Bachelor. :) Also, I imparted some of my first bits of knowledge about better eating on to my friends. I ate a lot of salads in school, and apparently, Amy didn't realize that salads could be made with lettuce other than iceburg. :) Green leaf lettuce became a staple vegetable on her grocery list after that. We enjoyed cooking and creating during that time, and I think it prepared us for feeding our husbands one day.
Matt and I got married June 21, 2003. I had a mammoth task ahead of me as I was going to try to fill the shoes of his mom who is a great cook. Matt and I had some food differences such as I didn't prefer red meat since I did not grow up eating it. That first year of marriage was a learning year for sure. I think back to some things I was so proud I had made...lame-o! Little by little though, I was learning and picking up knowledge of how to cook as I spent more and more time in my cookbooks and online.
We moved to Connecticut in 2004, and I have to say that is where my LOVE for cooking and eating healthy really exploded. The first two years we were there, Matt attended Yale's physician assistant program while I worked. My habit became this: I would look up recipes on a few of my favorite sites and then I would come home from work and just create. I would take the framework of the original recipe and then "Summerize" it. :) One of the things I noticed in so many recipes, especially the "easy, 5 ingredients or less" types of recipes was that there was never any flare. So many recipes would use outrageous amounts of fat sources and no herbs or spices. I could not understand that. That is when I started experimenting with combining flavors and started to get a handle of melding flavors and allowing food to shine. Now, all this was done in the tiniest kitchen you can imagine, too. :) I had one countertop to use that was about 18-20 inches across, but somehow, I made it work. It was such an amazing time in our lives. We lived in a 425 sq. foot. apartment for two years. We then moved into an 880 sq. foot apartment, woo hoo! I had a bit more space in this kitchen but still a bit cramped. I finally landed a job at Yale. I had always hoped and prayed for a chance to work there, but I never thought it would happen as Yale is a union. If you are an external applicant, it's very difficult to even get an interview let alone a position. But, a precancerous mole and my natural ability to talk :) got me a position at Yale Surgical Dermatology. Upon checking out from my appointment that day, I was hired as a temp. by the office manager. My time at Surgical Derm. is and most likely will be some of my best working memories. The ladies and few gentlemen that I worked with there were amazing! I ended up becoming the cake lady while I worked there. I made a cake at the beginning of each month to celebrate the birthdays in the office that month. I really enjoyed doing that for everyone I worked with, and they were pleased that it wasn't the boring coconut cake each month that was purchased from university catering. We engaged in many talks about food and cooking and nutrition in that kitchen during lunchtime each day. Most days, someone would ask me what I had and how did I make it. It occurred to me even then that so many women are afraid of the kitchen and especially with experimenting. During those two years, I became even more adventurous in the kitchen, and I felt like I was actually creative. I have never been one to enjoy creative projects. But, I think during my time in my, though they were small, kitchens while living in Connecticut, I found that cooking is my outlet and a place where my mind runs free and allows me to be creative in so many ways.
Since moving back to my hometown of Panama City in late 2008, my husband and I have built a home and had a baby. Needless to say, my time in the kitchen has been slashed in the last year with the addition of our baby girl. I have gone through some times of wondering why I didn't feel myself, and then it would occur to me that I hadn't done the kind of cooking I am accustomed to. I still cook and prepare food for us each day and night; however, I haven't felt as creative nor had the time to really devote to creating and cooking. It has made me realize how being in my kitchen actually is a part of who I am as a woman, wife and mother. It is my domain, my sphere, and though my life has changed with my little shadow at my heels now, my life in front of my spices and stove have and will continue to ebb and flow with time.
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