A Mom Thing

Steamed Eggs!

We all know in my non-mom life I help sell eggs (client). 

But we also know I'm in love with them. I learned a new way to cook them last week -  and I'm hooked!

I was at a meeting with Howard Helmer and Jeffrey Saad.  They both did food demos.  Y-U-M.

Howard steamed his egg.  It's like a poached egg but even simpler.  Basically you put a couple teaspoons of water in the hot skillet and cover with a tight fitting lid. The steam cooks the eggs -- they are beautiful and perfect.  He slipped his in a soup. I put mine on a slice of Canadian Bacon.

H had the great idea to try it on the griddle.  I cracked an egg on there, slipped on a slice of Canadian Bacon...drizzled a bit of water then covered it with a metal mixing bowl.  And went back to e-mail.  A couple minutes later, I unveiled the bowl. VOILA -- a beautiful egg smiling up at me. The bottom edges were slightly crispy, the top -- perfect.    And probably only about 100 calories ... what a kickstart to my day! 

What did Jeffrey make, you ask?  Egg pillows -- a fried egg wrapped into a crepe and filled with yumminess.  MMM MMM MMM. Don't worry, I'll do that one soon.   And next time, I'll try to take a photo before I eat it!

French Onion Soup!

 

Yumbo-frick-a-li-cious.

A few weeks ago, I took the family on a trip down memory lane. 

I did my junior year of college in Paris.  ONE WHOLE YEAR.  I studied at the Sorbonne (American Literature classes in French? Go figure.).  I lived in an apartment (generous term) with two other gals.  We ate our meals across the hall "Chez Madame's" with a bunch of other international students.  I remember Jorge from Columbia, Nicole from Sweden.  I so remember them. Countless others whose names I don't remember.

It was a memorable year. Best of times/worst of times.  Incredibly satisfying from a growth perspective. Incredibly lonely sometimes. I kept a scrapbook/photo-album of it all. And journals. I always had my journal.

One thing we ate a LOT of was French Onion Soup.  It was cheap and tasty.  We made it in our tiny tiny kitchen. 

So -- I decided a few weeks ago that we were going to make French Onion Soup as a family and look through my scrapbook. Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. 

My posse played along. 

We used the Tyler Florence recipe from Food Network.  It was rated as "EASY" ... less than an hour ... and I think Tyler Florence is cute. BINGO...formula for success, right?

The Soup was TRES BIEN.  Seriously good. The kids loved it. We will definitely make it again.  CHEAP, TOO. 

The trip down memory lane was priceless. I was seriously shocked by how I don't look all that different? I was always an old soul, I guess.  The kids loved seeing some of my friends who are STILL friends.  They've changed (physically) more than I have (for the better!).  They loved seeing my apartment. And the TUB-room and the TOILET-room. And the tiny kitchen.  Little Guy loved seeing the Teddy Bear on my bed that he sleeps with sometimes now.

Ahhhhhhh. Memories. Priceless.

The Magic Chef.

 

THIS is our "secret weapon" in the battle of the pizza.  As you know, we make pizza about once a week.  We usually use the pizza oven, but leftovers are often done on the grill or in the oven (especially if we need the heat in the hosue...hello, thermostat still set at 58 degrees in here!).

We discovered this bread maker over 12 years ago in a little shop near Boston called Building 19.  It's like their local version of Marshall's maybe?  Or Woolworths...anyone remember Woolworths? It was $19.99 or something crazy like that.

It makes OK bread but it makes AMAZING dough.  A few ingredients (water, olive oil, salt, sugar, flour and yeast) and and hour and a half later you have BEAUTIFUL DOUGH.  So easy and delicious.

What's your secret weapon/favorite toy in the kitchen?

Mamma's Mushroom Soup...Mmmm

My mom makes soup.  Every Saturday, she makes soup.  She doesn't eat soup but she makes it for all of us.  The varieties are endless.  Favorites are Mushroom, Carrot, Chicken Noodle, Vegetable ... and many mystery soups.  They are all home cooked with extra love and care.  They are SO de-li-cious.

A few weeks ago, I wrestled the recipe out of her for a few and I'm slolwy trying them out.  She never really has a recipe so making it is a near-religious experience.  Apparently, like Rome, most soups are not "made in a day."

The nice thing about this soup is you can store it in "concentrate" form and dilute with broth/stock as you need it.  You can also pre-make a lot of the mushrooms and freeze them for future soup adventures.

The kids love this in their Thermos ... with a half sandwich.  YUM.

Ingredients

• 2 large containers of mushrooms (mix up button and fancy)
• 1/2 cup of wine (white or red)
• 1 cube of porcini broth (diluted in 1/2 cup water
• boiled yukon potatoes, smashed (skin on)
• 2-3 cans of chicken broth
• 1 package leek soup mix (diluted in water)

Preparation

Saute mushrooms in olive oil until the pan is dry of their water.  Pour in the half cup of wine and keep stiring til dry.  Add in porcini broth.  Add in potatoes, broth and leek soup mixture.  Whisk.  Bring to simmer and then puree a bit with an immersion blender. 

Pancake Cake

 

I tried a new recipe on a recent weekday morning.  It was on the generic Buttermilk pancake mix box.  I thought why not!?  I'd heard about people doing these from scratch but I didn't really have the time (or brain space) on that particular day.

Ingredients

• a pat of butter
• 1 cup of buttermilk pancake mix (like Krusteaz)
• 1/2 cup water
• 1 egg
• sliced apples
• shake of cinnamon

Preparation

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Mix first three ingredients in a bowl, while melting a pat of butter in a 9-inch baking dish.  Pour batter into baking dish.  Top lightly with sliced apples.  Sprinkle with Cinnamon.  Bake (approx 15-20 minutes ... batter will be set).  Serve and top with syrup.

Chopped Salad

 

This is SUCH a go-to for us.  We always have it when we do pizza.  It's pretty, a crowd-pleaser and keeps you from over-indulging on pizza.   I typically use mixed greens (chopped of course) on the bottom layer.  Then a top layer of chopped romaine or head lettuce.  Sometimes some herbs.  Then ... a row of chopped onion, chopped tomato, chopped cucumber, chopped egg and sometimes celery or beets or other leftovers in the crisper.  Top is sprinkled with blue or feta cheese and crumbled bacon then dusted with cracked pepper. 

Perfection on a plate.

(Wo)man v. Wild

 

 

 

Are these photos un-real/sur-real, or what??  Seriously. We have wild arugula growing in our garden. It is W-I-L-D!  I mean really - like survivorman-wild. 

I went in and pulled almost all of it out by its roots this weekend.  I looked like a crazy bush-woman. The result is the bush-pile in the first photo. (H looked HORRIFIED as I dragged the pile into the house.) The second photo is the shorn-arugula in the sink, waiting to be washed.  The THIRD photo is the arugula pesto I made.  (PRIDE).

Total experiment. Wild arugula is bitter-er than regular arugula.  And more spindly. I combined a few handfuls with some garlic, parmesan, olive oil, pepper and a small handful of mint leaves (why not, right?).  It was GREAT!  We mixed it with pasta and the kids even liked it.  H and I had some chicken (beaten breasts of course) and the FIRST zucchini (grilled) from the garden.  YUM. 

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There is SUCH an additional satisfaction to using weeds and making them not only edible but enjoyable. It's the same satisfaction I remember as a child as we picked dandelion leaves for a salad...or picked mulberries and ate 'til our tummies ached.   Total satisfaction.

Egg Pizza?

 

Yum-bo-frick-a-li-cious.

We use a basic pizza dough (made in a bread machine).  Lightly coat the rolled dough with Olive Oil.   Dust with Parmesan cheese (and garlic if you choose).   Fan out asparagus spears.  Dust with another cheese (we used lightly grated Manchego on this one) and crack an egg in the middle and a little pepper on the top.  COOK and DEVOUR.

Everytime we've served this it's been such a surprising crowd pleaser.  People look all-funny at the egg in the middle.  Then they try it. And they fall in love.  I have not met a single person yet who has not ADORED this pizza.  In fact, it was originally Little Guy's creation (he made me say that -- it's true but he's insisting on credit).

Food-love.  Love it.

FIRST tomatoes!!

 

 

We have TOMATOES!!  Well, Kinda'.  The first few -- three to be exact. Three teeny tiny currant tomatoes.  As big as a blueberry.  All the flavor of a big boy but none of the squish.  They are amazing. And beautiful. And (eventually) plentiful.  They grow on more of a bush than a plant. They come to fruition earlier than the others. They always get red.  No frying these green tomatoes!

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We got these seeds in Napa.  H and I were touring the Fetzer vineyard.  They are known for their organic gardens.  We spotted these tomatoes and fell in love.  The tourguide told us to take a few and try to save the seeds. Try them ourselves.  That was over 5 years and a home ago. We've been lovin' them since.  Fun!

Cereal Box Bowls?

 

Remember THESE??  I had totally forgotten.  We used to have these as kids sometimes for a VERY special treat.  I buy them for our kids every once in awhile...Did you ever notice that the HEALTHIER stuff is never sold in the small boxes?  Just the sugary sweet goodness?

I did these for the boys the other day - for a snack. They were SO into it. They loved the fun of it. And couldn't believe the boat didn't capsize.  Love that.  Sometimes it's the little things that are most exciting, eh?