Hello old friends. I sure have missed sharing my culinary adventures with you, but alas my creative life has taken a backseat all these many months, and textbooks, research writing, and all those things not conducive to culinary inspiration have taken over my life. I did not abandon my culinary passions completely however. I did manage to write a research paper on the intricacies of cooking a turkey - probably the first time my English professor ever encountered that particular research topic. And here she had just been complaining about all the papers on volcanoes she'd just had to read the prior semester. I had no trouble filling ten pages with facts and information on choosing, brining, cooking and serving the quintessential Thanksgiving centerpiece - much to my professor's surprise. I'm passionate about turkey. I had quite a bit to say on the matter. I'm hoping she found it more interesting than a fifteenth paper on volcanoes. But now with summer upon us, life takes on a very different pace, and I'm quite looking forward to doing whatever I please and not being graded on it, including starting sentences with "but" and "and!"

This weekend my neighbors had an estate sale going on so I popped in for a quick hello and show of support. Estate sales are almost always such sad events, as they mostly signify the passing away of someone and the disposal of their material possessions (although with the current real estate crisis in Las Vegas, a lot of estate sales are merely huge moving sales where the entire contents of a house gets sold). Apparently, the prior was the case for the lady who had lived here and her children were trying to ready the house for sale. As I walked in I felt like I had instantly gone back in time to a Victorian cottage on a different continent. The inside of this house completely belied the stucco and desert landscaping of the outside. There were oil paintings in gilded frames over every square inch of the walls, in every size imaginable from very tiny to the size of a mural, tapestries and furniture with pink velvet cushions, and rich fabrics, chandeliers made of crystal, sculptures of little dogs, and flowers - especially roses - everywhere. The china laid out on the damask-lined table was delicate and ladylike and looked like something from a bygone era, when people still dressed for a beautifully prepared dinner served on elegant porcelain dishes with silver candlesticks and serving platters. On a side table in the corner, almost as an afterthought, there was a pile of books, which of course immediately drew my attention and I moved in for a closer look. I love old cookbooks. It must be the secret anthropologist in me. They're fascinating to me, most especially if they have notes in them from the person who used them. I love looking at people's handwriting, especially living in an age of email and electronic everything, even books now. Something handwritten seems to be more precious than ever. There were several cookbooks in the pile, many of them from the 50's and 60's, and one of those little community cookbooks entirely handwritten by different women from a Wives' Club at St. Louis University, whose husbands apparently were all interns or residents. I snatched the whole pile and paid the lady a ridiculously small amount for such a treasure. As I headed home to pore through them I couldn't help but wonder how someone could get rid of something as valuable as their mother's cookbooks. Not valuable in terms of money but of memories. And by the looks of these books there were many memories attached to them. Opening the cover of the 1971 edition of Betty Crocker's Cookbook I came upon this handwritten note to "Marna" from her mother.

It's just so sweet. One small paragraph can say so much about the kind of woman "Mom" was and how much she loved her daughter. Of course I immediately had to turn to page 144. I'm going to assume that the Snickerdoodle recipe is what she referred to since that is the only one with any distinguishing mark. I noticed that the pages with the most marks and stains were the cookie pages, which made me smile. There was even residual flour on the pages.

I wish I could have talked with Marna about her mother's gift to her and what she made from it and the stories behind the food. Instead I'm going to go bake up a batch of Snickerdoodles and write bunches of notes in my favorite cookbooks. And I'm going to hope my daughters save them for their daughters and that they do the same. Even if books do become relics of the past, along with notes in cursive writing.

Sunday Suppers and Food for Thought

I love Sunday. Sunday means something special for family dinner. And Sunday for our family is the day dad is home and a day to reflect on our blessings. Life slows way down on Sundays. It's also the day when I especially like to contemplate on what I have learned the past week, in all aspects of life. Somehow Sundays give you permission to do that more so than on other days. Tomorrow I'm going to think about patience and why it's considered a virtue. Someone once described God's amazing ability to hold back and wait things out as a "miracle of restraint." I have always coveted that kind of patience, while not being quite able to comprehend it. The ability to sit on one's hands and wait for the outcome that is certain to come if we just let it, no matter how long it takes, is not something impatient people are very good at. We have a tendency to want to take matters into our own hands and help things along - even if we haven't thought the process out all the way through to its final conclusion. I have found, that often, waiting it out yields an infinitely better outcome. But God already knew that.

What does this have to do with dinner? A great deal, actually. Life is funny that way. The big philosophical challenges can apply to the most common of everyday tasks. Take the conundrum of the microwave versus the slow-cooker. Microwaves are great for killing bacteria and your lunch. I believe they are a necessary evil. I also believe they have contributed to the horrendous state of ill health in our country. I have no facts to prove this, just a hunch based on observation. There's something about eating in a hurry that has no appeal for me. I was obviously born in the wrong time period.

Microwaves are great for some things - don't get me wrong. But slow cookers are better. At least for making things like chicken stock, Marinara, Bolognese, beef stew, pot roast, chili, cassoulet…anything that improves greatly with low, slow, even cooking. Good healthy ingredients go into a slow cooker. No preservatives, artificiality, and stuff one can't pronounce. My slow cooker is one appliance I have an up close and personal relationship with, unlike my bread maker which is relegated to the top of the fridge, just enough out of reach to make me think about using it, but not actually doing it. Oh I admire the bread maker greatly, from afar, and often reminisce of our few dalliances with fondness. There have been sporadic bursts of bread baking mania followed by long periods of inactivity; it just doesn't hold my attention for very long, and it makes me fat. But the slow cooker constantly saves my busy behind and for that it gets my undying loyalty.

I have a rule when using my slow cooker - everything that goes into it is sautéed, browned, heated or reduced. I never ever put raw unheated items in there and turn it on low. I have known people who did, which is why it took me until I was in my mid 30's to buy one. Two - okay, I have two rules - do not open that lid to "check on it." This is why I have often turned my slow cooker on at night before going to bed. Restraint is not my strong suit. The big problem with that is waking up in the middle of the night to delicious aromas wafting into the bedroom. It's a really strange way to wake up.

Yesterday my favorite canned tomatoes were on sale at my supermarket. I stocked up. The first order of the day is to make a slow-cooker Marinara. I allow at least 30-45 minutes of prep time and about 6 hours of slow cooking. This makes for a basic and very yummy sauce for those meatballs I'm going to work on tomorrow.

This is how I did it:

1 medium yellow onion chopped (any onion or even shallots can be used)

3 carrots chopped (this adds sweetness to counter the acidity of the tomatoes without adding sugar, and veggies the kids can't see)

6 cloves of garlic chopped

3 Tbsp olive oil

1 Turkish Bay leaf

1 tsp Mediterranean oregano (this is dried, use more if using fresh)

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp black pepper

1/4 tsp red pepper flakes

4 cans San Marzano tomatoes (known for their sweetness and great flavor)

Sautee the onion and carrots until onion is translucent, add garlic, bay leaf, oregano, salt and peppers right to the pan. When fragrant add tomatoes. When heated through transfer to slow cooker. About half way through taste for salt and pepper.

Notes

After cooking I remove the bay leaf and use an immersion blender to get the sauce to a good consistency - not too pureed but no huge chunks of tomatoes.

I freeze half for other dinners, and use the other half for tonight's dinner and for a different dish later in the week.

This is a very basic sauce. There are many ways to change it up. Sauteeing chopped pancetta and then adding the vegetables makes the sauce more complex. Just reduce the amount of olive oil as needed. Adding a cup of reduced red wine at the beginning of cooking also adds depth. Reducing the wine first before adding it to the slow cooker improves the taste greatly. I always reduce the wine first before adding it to foods. Adding a cup of grated parmesan cheese or a four cheese Italian blend like the one I found at Sam's (another great warehouse purchase) mellows the acidity of the tomatoes and adds great rich flavor. Adding fresh herbs such as basil or Italian parsley at the end after cooking keeps the herb flavors bright. Many times I split the sauce up and add different things to each portion. This recipe makes a huge amount of sauce - enough for four Spaghetti dinners for a family of 4-6.

San Marzano tomatoes can be pricey and hard to find in some areas. I have done this recipe with a can of crushed tomatoes from my local warehouse store. This makes it extremely economical and much better than a jar. Taste the sauce for sweetness and add a tsp or two of brown sugar if needed. Under $3 for a 110 oz can - it cannot be beat!

Sauce is a very personal thing - some people like it chunky, some people have picky eaters who want a smooth sauce. The great thing about making it at home is that you control what goes in and what doesn't. Don't be afraid to play with different ingredients and make the sauce decidedly your own! No cookbooks needed!

Warehouse Store Madness...or Brilliance

I think I'm a warehouse store addict. I love to buy stuff in bulk because everything is so economical compared with buying it at my local supermarket or at Whole Foods. But it's really only a bargain if it gets eaten or used, something I have found out the hard way when buying a 20 pound bag of sweet potatoes when I am the only one in my family of four who is nuts about them. Or when purchasing a gargantuan box of cookies and maybe a quarter of it gets eaten before the expiration date. Those are not bargains. I have become much pickier about what I am willing to buy in bulk and what is just plain wasteful. I always try to take a list with me, although I have been known to wander down each and every isle to check out what's new. Sometimes I find great deals this way. I also frequently blow my budget this way too. It's very hard to be restrained in these types of stores. Everything screams BARGAIN! And some things really are. Take the Roma tomatoes I purchased yesterday. Pesticide-free, delicious and sweet, they come in a 12 pack - a perfect amount when used in a simple pasta sauce or on homemade pizza or in bruschetta. I wash them thoroughly, dry them and cut them in half. Then they are ready to be drizzled with olive oil and sprinkled with sea salt, freshly ground black pepper and herbs. I roast these in a 375 degree oven for about an hour, which gives them amazing depth of flavor. It also makes it easy to remove the peel if I want. Now they are ready to be used in all kinds of yummy dishes. This is one warehouse store purchase I make regularly along with the organic roasting chickens available at my local Costco. They come in a two-pack which is really great. I butterfly them, which is not as hard as it sounds with a really good pair of kitchen shears. (I found mine in the gadgets aisle. They were a BARGAIN!) Just remove the backbone so that the chickens will lie flat easier. After butterflying the chickens, rinsing them and patting them dry with paper towels I marinate them - usually in a citrus garlic marinade for a couple of hours in the Ziplock freezer bags I found in the paper and plastic products aisle. I like using these bags because they allow easy turning in order to marinate evenly, and they are no mess no fuss. Just toss them when they're done. I hate messing with raw chicken. When using a citrus based marinade I don't go any longer than a couple of hours or it will break down the meat too much. I remove the chickens from the marinade place them on a baking sheet lined with foil and sprayed with a little olive oil (with my handy dandy refillable spray bottles found in the gadget aisle - and they really were a BARGAIN!) If crispy skin is what I want, and who doesn't, I let the chickens air dry in the fridge and hour or two before baking. Just place them in the fridge, uncovered, right on the baking sheet. When ready to bake, remove the baking sheet from the fridge and spray the chickens with the olive oil (or drizzle them) and salt, pepper, herbs - whatever you like on your chicken. Preheat oven to 400 F. Roast chickens for 20 minutes, then lower oven temp to 375 F and roast until thighs register between 170-180 F, approximately 75-80 minutes. Is there anything better than roast chicken for dinner? I ask that every time I make it and my house is filled with the aroma of the Sunday night dinners of my childhood. Tomorrow I will make homemade chicken stock as a base for my Sicilian chicken soup, and make some chicken quesadillas for lunch. It's amazing how many fabulous meals I will get for such a bargain price. And best of all none of it goes to waste!

Easy Citrus Marinade

2 Oranges juiced

2 limes juiced

2 lemons juiced

4-6 garlic cloves

2 tsp sea salt

1/2 tsp freshly cracked pepper

1 tsp herbs de Provence or your favorite herb seasoning

1/2 c. olive oil

Make a paste from the garlic and salt, add the citrus juices, oil, the pepper and herbs. Mix well until emulsified. Divide in half. Pour over chicken in Ziplock. Discard marinade when finished.

Spritz Resolutions - Part One

I just love the days after New Year's. The house is clean save for the odd residual evidence of Christmas here and there, the freezer and pantry are stocked with delicious goodies for feeding a hungry family, everyone is still pretty entertained with their presents and no one is exclaiming their boredom with life just yet. That means one thing for me - I get to really relax and do whatever I want to do. Or however much a person with a type-A personality can relax.

The first thing on my agenda is to get back in that kitchen and absolve myself of my culinary sins. Starting with those abhorrent spritz cookies that looked like my cookie press threw up the Christmas tree-like shapes onto the cookie sheet, where in the oven they promptly turn into unidentifiable blobs of soft dough. To top off the offense I added pretty colored sprinkles before baking them - hoping that they would somehow magically convert back into a semblance of Christmas trees (or that at least the sprinkles would make them festive). They didn't. Yes I refrigerated the dough first. They tasted fantastic, but as my father always liked to point out - you eat with your eyes first. Sprinkled blobs just don't cut it. My offspring are not impressed with the cookie press and its product. They want store-bought cookies from professionals. One look at my expression sends them scurrying from the room. That spritz recipe should have worked. It was tender and delicious. It begs to be fixed. I will not buy store bought cookies! At least not today.

What I am really seeking here is redemption. This usually entails defacing a cookbook or two. My mother would be horrified to know that I write all over my cookbooks. Sometimes I wonder if the cookbook authors out there actually make all the recipes they put in their books or if they just throw some in there as filler, hoping for the best when their unsuspecting readers attempt to master one. Or maybe they leave out steps to keep you on your cooking toes. Or...maybe they assume we can read their little chef minds and we somehow already know we are supposed to refrigerate the dough first, but only a little because if it's too hard it won't press and if it’s too soft it will be blobby, even though they don't tell us to; or that fresh breadcrumbs means untoasted and the bread should be slightly stale not super fresh in order not to turn it in a blob of dough in the food processor, and if it is super fresh you should lightly dry it in a low oven, but not toast it in order to keep them "fresh". But of course they assume we know what they mean by fresh breadcrumbs as opposed to just homemade breadcrumbs.

Sometimes I long for a cookbook that includes solutions for recipe malfunctions. It could include a paragraph titled, "What Went Wrong?" and have helpful advice, in case your cookies are blobs, or your no-bake cheesecake doesn't set perfectly, or you somehow end up with pudding when you were going for cake. It could reassure the home cook that the author had those very things happen in their test kitchen, and that no, it doesn't mean you're a hopeless loser, but that circumstances beyond one's control can sometimes cause results to vary, and there's a perfectly plausible explanation, oh and hey - here's how to fix it! Okay - I'm off to redo those recipes (three disasters and counting). Perfectly tender, delicious, beautifully shaped spritz can't be that hard to pull off! I bet Alton Brown doesn't make sprinkled blobs!