I have a new business venture

I haven't been a faithful blogger. :(  I have however been a faithful eater and cook.  I have been thoroughly enjoying creating in the kitchen over these summer months.  I have been enjoying shopping for seasonal ingredients as well.  I have not, however, enjoyed writing about any of it.  I was laid off officially in April and lost all hope of finding another job in July.  So I started my own business.  I used my love of food, design, people and happiness to begin A Candy Bar.  I will be specializing in designing beautiful candy creations for special occasions and for gifting.  I am very excited and consumed with this new passion and will be putting a lot of effort into the start up.  Alas, I will still cook and I will still blog but I may be a bit quiet for a while as I ramp up.  I hope this summer finds you well, full and happy. 

Be healthy, Be Green and Be Frugal!

I recently read a really terrific post from the Organic Soul website! 
http://www.organicsoul.org/being-green-being-frugal-5-ways-to-save-money-and-help-the-environment/

Tip #2: Eat Efficient, but still Eat Happy

• First, consider starting an organic garden. The money you save on food will offset the money needed for start-up.
• Eat more veggies and less meat. They’re cheaper, healthier, and decreases demand for a environmentally unsound industry.
• Purchase smaller sized portions. Most restaurants offer half size or some variation of their main meals. Instead of wasting food and money, just go for the smaller size and eat every bit.
• Plan out your meals! When you plan out your eating schedule and meals, you become more secure in your financial planning as well. Aim at spending $5 a day on food – you can do it!

Moral: Food is something we’ve got to deal with everyday. That being so, don’t just “wing it” and instead try to put time and thought into where you’re eating, how you’re eating, and how much you’re paying to eat! Remember: as a consumer, you create demand. The more efficient you eat, the better the message you send to businesses.

I really love all of these suggestions and am working on implementing each and every one of them.  Of course my favorite as of yet is Meal Planning.  I am going to do my research and see if I actually spend $5 per day per person on food.  If not then I am going to attempt to meet this goal.  Food is not just a way to stave off hunger.  It is literally a preventative medicine for your health and a tool to help care for and protect the planet and our environment.  I love food!

`A Votre Sante' 

Joy's Tuscan Bean Dip

Today I was craving a simple delicious lunch and I was inspired to make my version of Tuscan White Bean Dip.  It was scrumptious. I honestly ended up licking it up with my fingers from the bowl.  I know embarrassing right?!  But I wanted to share the recipe with you because beans - Cannellini beans to be specific- are an oft overlooked source of protein as well as magnesium, fiber, iron and folate (a B vitamin).  I need all of the energy I can get, as do most women I know, so this was a terrific option.  Again, this is a Vegan option, not by design but because it's delicious.  So now that I have licked the bowl and finished my lunch of yummy beans I thought I could share the recipe with you.  Remember this can be a lunch, a dip, a spread or even a side dish.  So versatile and did I mention sooooo cheap too.

Joy's Tuscan White Bean Dip
1 can of Cannellini Beans or any white bean option
1 freshly squeezed lemon
Dash of Sea Salt to taste
Splash of Olive Oil- Extra Virgin tastes best
1/2 teaspoon crushed garlic
1 tablespoon of  dried oregano
Shake of  dried rosemary

Combine all ingredients except rosemary in a food processor and pulse until relatively smooth.  Taste and adjust seasoning to your liking.  Remove from food processor and garnish with a shake of rosemary. Enjoy on Crostini (toasted bread slices) or with crackers, or tortilla chips or in any creative way you can dream.

`A Votre Sante'

Eating for Health

So recently I was at the Doctor with my 18 year old daughter and I was helping her fill out the family medical history form.  You know the one, it says basically has anyone in your family ever died from; cancer, heart disease, stroke, diabetes, or any other conceivable malady. I answered yes to pretty much any and all diseases as causes of death for a multitude of different members of our family and my daughter was flat out horrified.  Personally I have always figured that everyone dies of something so it has never alarmed me.  But then I saw it through Hailey's eyes and I took it a bit more personally.  Maybe I don't want to encourage my genetic history for diabetes, heart disease and stroke.  Maybe I would like to put the brakes on the occurrence of cancer in my life and what better way to achieve this goal than to work on modifying elements of my diet to achieve the healthiest life my genetics will allow.  Like anyone, I started with breakfast the next day.  I love breakfast.  I am a big breakfast eater.  Usually I eat a lot.  Too much and not the healthiest things either.  So I vowed to add some temperance and nutrition to my plate in the morning.  Without really planning it out, I grabbed some whole grain bread, extra virgin olive oil, dried oregano, fresh tomato, fresh basil and some sea salt.  I toasted up the bread, added olive oil and oregano with a pinch of salt and then two thin slices of tomato with another pinch of salt and finally some fresh basil leaves.  It was delicious and vegan and I hadn't even tried.  This meal was full of heart healthy oil from the olive oil and antioxidant properties from the oregano (now considered a super spice), lycopene in the tomato and the fiber and complex carbohydrate from the toast.  Most importantly it was good and filling and had nothing unhealthy in it and it was so easy to make.  It is now my go to breakfast.  I am attempting to evaluate my food choices in terms of helping me beat my genetic disease risks or at least beat them back.  My kids need me and  my dogs are frankly too much for any person to have to handle if I drop dead early.  So I will keep trying to create delicious meals for myself and my family with the goal of longevity in mind.

Spring is Sprung Savory Pie

I love pie.  The traditional fruit pies, the pumpkin pie, and especially savory pie.  You can pack so many great ingredients into a pie and it becomes a quintessential one "dish" meal.  The pie I am making for dinner tonight began it's life as a Summer Vegetable and Herb Quiche, and I have even adapted it to be a cozy winter vegetable pie for dinner's past.  But today, with 60 degrees teasing us into warm spring thoughts, I thought we could create a taste of spring and add fresh carrots and pencil asparagus.

So here is the recipe for this cheery spring treat.

Spring is Sprung Savory Pie

Serves 4-6

4TB of Olive Oil
12 oz. of thawed puff pastry
1 ripe tomato
2 whole carrots cut into thin rounds
1 bunch pencil thin asparagus
9 oz of cottage cheese
1 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese
1 tsp. dill
1 tsp. lemon pepper
1/2 tsp. herbs de provence seasoning
salt and pepper to taste

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F

Cut the hard ends off of the asparagus, cut the asparagus into three sections.  Put a shallow pan on the stove with about two to three inches of salted water in it and bring it to a boil.  Put the sections of asparagus in the water starting with the lowest section first, boil 1 min, then the middle section and boil 3 minutes and then the top section and boil for 2 to 3 minutes.  Taste the asparagus to test for doneness.  Bottom section should be tender but with a bit of crunch left.  Remove asparagus from boiling water into a bowl full of ice water to stop boiling and maintain green color.  Set aside.

Dump the water from your pan, drizzle it with the olive oil and place on heat with carrots in it.  Saute carrots until they are tender to your liking.  About 10 minutes. Remove carrots from heat and set aside.

Open up the puff pastry and shape it into a glass or ceramic pie plate as a bottom crust and set aside.

Combine almost all of the parm cheese and all of the cottage cheese in a food processor, add the dill and 1/2 of the lemon pepper.  I also added some tops of asparagus.  Pulse the cheeses and spices and veggies until combined.

Scoop the carrots onto the crust in the pie plate.  Pile the asparagus on top of the carrots.  Sprinkle with a little bit of salt and pepper.  Spoon the cheese mixture over the vegetables.

Slice the tomato very thinly and place a whole slice in middle of the pie mixture and halves arranged around the whole.  Use remaining dill, some salt and both peppers (just little shakes) on top of tomatoes.  Finally, sprinkle the Herbs de Provence over the whole thing.

Place in the oven for approximately 40 minutes but start checking in about 20 minutes to see if the pastry around edges and the cheese is bubbling and golden.  Take it out and enjoy!

Sunday Menu Planning

It's not often that I wake up looking forward to a "chore" but Sunday morning meal/menu planning actually gives me the opportunity to peruse the options in my copious cookbook collection and imagine the best part of the week ahead, dinner!

While I dream, I complete my shopping list for the week which helps keep my buying under control and my budget in line.

I always try to balance what my children will love to eat with what will comfort and nourish us and what I will truly enjoy cooking.  I also make sure that I include the activities that we have scheduled for the week so I have an idea of how long I have for prep each night and if we will sit down or dine and dash with each meal.


I love to have tv cooking shows on in the background, a cup of fresh coffee or tea and my clipboard in front of me at the breakfast table while I begin my list.  My breakfast table faces into my backyard so I can dream about food and take visual breaks by watching the dogs play or the squirrels nosh or the leaves rustling in the breeze. 


I bring a pile of the best looking cookbooks to the table and start to page through them.  I really only use the ones with gorgeous pictures because with one look I can tell if I am in the mood to make a dish or not.  Generally, I limit the menu inspirations to two main cookbooks so that my counters are not too cluttered with my week's book picks.  


I use my small clipboard to hold the menu for each day of the week, the main dish and side dish choices, the cookbook title and page number.  I use my large clipboard to write my shopping/ingredient list.  And we are off!


This week I looked at the weather forecast too in order to plan which days might call for hot or hearty foods to lift our spirits.  Looks like we will have cold rain on Wednesday and Thursday so comfort foods are in order on those days.  


I always plan for Monday thru Sunday meals.  Sunday night is family dinner night so I like to choose something that might take more time or prep work knowing that we have no activities or plans to hurry us through the meal.  Sunday is my ode to the Slow Food Movement.


It seems like all of my cookbooks have a piece of paper in the front cover with the meal list from a week past.  I love seeing the food stains and smudges and recalling how that dinner or this dinner worked.  It makes me feel like I am doing my job as a parent to feed and provide for my kids.  My husband takes so much pride in the full refrigerator when we get home from grocery shopping, and I like to see that I have completed a week's worth of hearty, healthy meals for us. :)


This week's menu looks like this:

Monday: Eating out for a school fundraiser

Tuesday: Chicken Invotini on a bed of Spinach with Pasta and Mama's homemade sauce. 
                  I am subbing chicken for Veal as we don't eat veal.


Wednesday:  (Rain in forecast) Rosemary Grilled Chicken, Lemon Scented Broccoli and
                 Oven Baked Fries with Olive Oil.

Thursday:  (Carson has drum lessons and  Rain yet again)  Crab and Clam Chowder with   
                  Cheesy English Muffins, Iceberg Wedge Salad

Friday:  Bucatini Ala Amatriciana, Mixed Baby Green Salad, French Bread

Saturday:  Ribolita Bread Soup with Soft Cabbage

Sunday:  Meatloaf Patties, Mama's Mashies and Pan Fried Brussel Sprouts 


I found most of the main dishes here in the tiny Rachel Ray Cookbook "Top 30 Thirty Minute Meals".  It is a great resource for yummy comfort food ideas with side dish suggestions that make it easy to plan and keep the number of necessary cookbooks down to a bare minimum for the week.


I generally try to keep Friday and Saturday dinners easy as the kids always have social plans.  And actually Saturday is usually a soup day that I can start in the morning when I am cooking breakfast~ for 2 to 10 teen boys~ and then let simmer all day.


So now, I am off to the store.  Where I will look for the ingredients with the least additives, that are from the most local suppliers and organic when possible.  I go alone, I take my list on a clipboard and I make sure that I have time to meander and think and plan and read labels.  


I hope your week is wonderful.  I hope you are able to eat hearty, healthy food with the ones that you love.  I will see you next time.


Love,
Mama Joy