BRAVA: An Ovation For An Oven

STORIES FOR THE TIMES:

I have been cooking on a Brava Smart Oven since July 2019. To see what it is all about I direct you to their web site: www.brava.com

The Brava lives on my cooktop which I have not used for months. The extra trays and pans live in the oven. Sometimes I use the microwave in conjunction with the Brava meals.

Here is a compilation of what I have been cooking for breakfast, lunch, and dinner as well as a few baked goods. Done with easy management and easy cleanup. A standing ovation to my Brava for keeping me happy and healthy and well-fed.

Musings on an old wooden fork

This post was inspired by and in response to a post by my friend Jan (I could not have said it better :•) Click here to see Jan's post: Musings on an old wooden spoon

The fork pictured here is at least 40  years old. Almost as old as my relationship with Gregory. I purchased it when I moved into my first apartment in Chicago. It is the utensil of choice when I am baking. 

The tines used to be straight, but because I am right-handed, the pressure from mixing cookie dough has gently curved the center tine toward a soft "crooked man with a crooked house" shape.

Just this Christmas season, as I was using it to mix dough for over 25 dozen cookies of six different types, I found myself admiring this forks heft, stains, history, and shifting grain.

This fork is, of course, a warm reminder of my life’s nurturing and baking — for friends, for family, for self. It is aging like I am and I am quite sure it will outlast me. 

One day it may find itself in an old cardboard box at a garage sale and when not purchased, which it certainly will not be, will be tossed into a garbage can where it will become part of a landfill somewhere.

If lucky, it will slowly decompose into the earth, still with so much function left to stir, blend, and agitate. I am sure that everyone can describe a spoon or fork of their own. 

Thanks Jan.

Pesto Part II

This was posted last summer:


August 2010:  Basil. Ahhh. We have 18 plants of it on our balcony with just a little room left for two pots of Rosemary, our BBQ grill, a square table and two chairs. Basil gave me permission to purchase a new Cuisinart food processor so I could make Pesto. Two double batches so far. Some to a party over homemade noodles, some spread on farmer's market tomatoes with oil and Balsamic, some in the freezer. $62.50 per batch and counting;-D


August 2011:  Eighteen plants again this year. As of today, down to $41.66 per batch and counting:•)

The Refrigerator

At dinner, sitting across from the refrigerator, I found myself thinking about what an ideal refrigerator would look like.

First question: Is there such a thing as an ideal refrigerator? I think not. I speak from experience having spend most of my teaching career looking for the ideal briefcase. Never found.

Second question: If there was such a thing as an ideal refrigerator, what would it look like. I like my refrigerator to be in order at all times. Now don't be thinking "alphabetical" but at least in order by category. And be thinking room enough to accommodate our food needs.

Here are some of the qualifications for meeting the criterion of ideal. The cheeses and lunch meats need to be in their drawer and the vegetables and the fruit in their various drawers. The butter needs to fit in its keeper.

The large door shelf holds the gallon of milk and the Soy Moo. In turn, the other door shelves hold, each their own category: jams; condiments like mustards, catsup, mayo and relish. (I was very pleased when I found pickle relish in a plastic squeeze bottle so it could live with the mustards etc.) Next are salad dressings, yogurts, fruit cups, and cooking sauces. I think that is eight door shelves in all?

The inside selves must contain upcoming meals, melons (too big and too heavy for the fruit drawer,) breads, eggs (wish there was a dozen scooped tray but what would I do when I had a few extra eggs and a new carton waiting?) Dairy like cottage cheese, sour cream, and cream cheese must live on the shelves. Each seem to have their own geographic location on the inside shelves.

The rack holding the soda cans does well but since there are only two rows, I have had to narrow it down to diet coke and LaCroix Water.

I hate, having returned from a shopping trip, having to stuff everything into the cold box just to make them fit, so I guess the ideal would be to have a refrigerator that would be large enough, and compartmentalized enough to meet our needs and possibly room for expansion and variations.

I am aware that I continue to narrow down what kind of refrigerated food we need (read "What I buy.") so that everything will fit where it belongs. For example I cannot add one more variety of mustard as there is no room in that door shelf. Another example, recently Gregory asked me to buy little cups of Tapioca and Rice Pudding. I gave in since I love him but am anguishing over where to keep them in the scheme of things.

So there you have it. I could make you feel better and say that I am NEUROTIC but I'll bet you think about (or don't allow yourself to think about) the same things.

Next time, the FREEZER and the following time - PANTRY SHELVES.

Mother Would Have Been Proud

Today for lunch, we had tomato soup with a grilled cheese sandwich. Mother would have been proud.

Mother, however, would not have recognized our version of what she used to call "Comfort Food." Our version included tomato jalapeno bisque soup and four cheeses (American, Pamisian, Romano, and Asiago) grilled with olive oil butter on whole wheat pesto bread.

Yumm!

Trader Joe's

Now this is not usually a topic for my writing. A commercial for a grocery store. But today we were shopping at Trader Joe's and I discovered something amazing.


First let me say that TJ's has given me the opportunity to feed us well, with good old fashioned home cooking, with few "bad ingredients added" but with most of the work being done in their kitchens. And at a reasonable price.


Next, Thanksgiving is just around the corner and we are going to Battle Creek to celebrate the holiday with Gregory's family and with Tony the Tiger. So we will be well fed without any cooking on our part, although we are making two Pumpkin Pies and the Corn Pudding. 


Finally, the amazing discovery. In the prepared meal refrigerated cabinet aisle, TJ's was offering: 1) a fully cooked ½ of a turkey. It was in a white plastic bag so I couldn't see the ½ of a turkey but I could feel the "sawed down the middle" turkey with its breast, thigh, and leg. It felt delicious. 2) ready to heat green bean casserole, 3) ready to heat candied yams, 4) ready to heat mashed potatoes, 5) ready to heat dressing, 6) ready to open cranberry relish, and 7) pumpkin pie.


Can you imagine. A healthy, minimally adulterated, already prepared and cooked, ready to open and put in a bowl, ready to heat and serve, Thanksgiving Meal. Now that is something to be grateful for.

Crock Pot Corn Pudding

Be sure to read the entire BLOG for a fun ending.


I served a Corn Pudding at last night's dinner party as discussed in the BLOG: Bon Voyage Party.

The recipe was taken from: http://cookeatshare.com and I wanted to share this simple recipe with you. Everyone at the dinner raved about the pudding and voted it "Best of Show." I have had several requests for the recipe. 


CROCK POT CORN PUDDING RECIPE

1 can cream style corn

1 can whole kernel corn

8 ox low fat sour cream

1 stick butter, melted

2 large eggs, beaten

1 box Jiffy Corn Meal Mix

Spray crock pot with non-stick spray. Combine all ingredients in a large bowl. Pour into crock pot. Cook on low for 6 to 8 hours. You can cook on high for 4 to 5 hours if you want a crisp ring around the outside. Serves 8

I doubled the batch and for a little while was worried that it would crown up and over the top of the pot. But it didn’t. I kept the lid on the entire time even though at times the contents looked to have too much liquid. They say if you remove the lid (to check the cooking) you loose 45 minutes. Kind of like digging up a seed to see if it has sprouted yet. 

Also, I guess it could also be made in the oven in a pyrex "until done."

Check this out for details on making the pudding:

YouTube - I Love Lucy

Bon Voyage Party

This evening's party was quite a success. It took a lot of energy, shopping, preparation, and planning spread out over the last three days. It will take another two to get all the dishes, glasses, etc back where they belong.

The occasion was to celebrate Regina and Declan's  upcoming wedding that will take place in Italy. Three other friends will be joining them there for the ceremony and then staying on in Italy for two months. One more will join the group over the Christmas and New Year holidays. After some thirty years, the Gay Family will not be together for the major end of the year holidays so it was wonderful to be with everyone before the Italian adventures began.

On arrival white and red wine and soft drinks were served. A tray with two types of salsa and chips as well as one of crackers with two types of cheese were available. The 100" table (that usually serves as Gregory's desk) was set, including flowers and candles, still against the wall where it usually lives, to be moved into the middle of the room when it was time it eat. The end of the counter was set for four more and a table for six was set and waiting in the bedroom closet to be brought into the living room at dinner time. Folding chairs were at the ready.

We did a sit down dinner, served buffet style for twenty people. Arrival was scheduled at 4:00 with dinner served at 5:00. The timing on the food was perfect. The corn pudding was in the crock pot from 1:00 until 5:00. The spiral cut ham was in the oven from 1:00 until 4:00 and then sat until dinner time. The pre-cooked turkey breast was warmed from 4:00 until 5:00. The haricot vert (french green beans) provincial were cooked yesterday and warmed in the oven from 4:00 until 5:00. The yams were peeled earlier today and cooked in brown sugar and orange juice between 4:00 and 5:00, and finished off in the microwave. Bread was warmed in the oven with the other 4:00 - 5:00 items. Roger made a cranberry horseradish moose and combined the Romain, lemon, olive oil, and kosher salt making a Tuscan salad. By 5:15 everyone was seated and enjoying a delicious meal. Gregory and I were so proud!

A milestone at this party is that Ivanca, our housekeeper, was here to help with last minute prep before the party, to take coats and serve drinks, and then to pour water after people were sitting. She joined us for dinner and then worked throughout the rest of the party cleaning up. What a blessing and valued part of our family she is.

Dessert consisted of a chocolate Devil's food sheet cake, double layered with chocolate moose in between, and with chocolate butter cream frosting. Huge pieces of cake were served with vanilla ice cream. People commented on how huge the cake portions were … but ate it all. Only Regina shared her cake with Declan but that is understandable as she said, "I do have to fit into my wedding dress you know." Finally, more wine and coffee and visiting.

Parties like this are not done too often. The labor and energy toll is extensive. The expense wasn't even calculated. But being able to "share the love" with people you care for in the "sanctity of one's home" is such a joyful gift. We are grateful for being able to have done this.

Basil

Thanks to Jan for this idea from her Blog today.
Jan's Blog



Basil. Ahhh. We have 18 plants of it on our balcony with just a little room left for two pots of Rosemary, our BBQ grill, a square table and two chairs. Basil gave me permission to purchase a new Cuisinart food processor so I could make Pesto. Two double batches so far. Some to a party over homemade noodles, some spread on farmer's market tomatoes with oil and Balsamic, some in the freezer. $62.50 per batch and counting;-D

Two Stories of Frugality

When my parents were entertaining, my mom would cook a whole brisket. In butcher jargon, a brisket is made up of two separate muscles which are sold together or separately. The lean "first or flat cut" is more expensive and the fattier "second cut or deckel" is cheaper.


Mom would cook the whole brisket and use the first, more expensive, leaner piece to serve company. She would slice the second, fattier, cheaper piece, smother it in B-B-Q sauce, and serve it to the family for dinner later in the week. While it was never spoken, I believe she served it in B-B-Q sauce so we couldn't see how fatty the meat really was. Either way, it was delicious!


Periodically we would visit my Great Grandmother Lee. We were not really close to her because when my Grandmother Lillian's husband died, Great Grandmother Lee's son, the Lee Family cut off my Grandmother from any inheritance and basically disowned her because she had been diagnosed Manic/Depressive.


Great Grandma Lee would serve us milk and poppy seed cookies. I have the recipe she used and still make them now and then. The interesting part is that she used a small glass to cut the cookies into rounds. Apparently she used the "rounds" for her better company because the cookies my family got were always the bits and pieces of the baked, leftover dough that had traces of the round glass, but we never saw a full cookie.

Pesto

It is that time of the season when the Basil plants on the balcony are twice as large as they should be. So I decided to make Pesto Pasta With Meat Balls for dinner tonight. I harvested the top half of approximately fifteen plants, picked each leaf off its stem and washed and dried what amounted to approximately 10 cups packed or what was needed for a double bach of Pesto. 


Next I measured a double order of kosher salt and freshly ground pepper (2 tsp each,) double the pignolis (pine nuts) and walnuts (½ cup each,) and cleaned 20 garlic cloves. Did I mention that yesterday I purchased a Cusinart Food Processor? NO? Well I did, having decided that I am doing enough cooking to DESERVE ONE!


I placed the walnuts, pignolis, and garlic in the bowl of my new food processor fitted with the steel blade and processed for 60 seconds (double the time for a double batch.) Next I added the basil leaves, salt, and pepper. Then with the processor running, I was next supposed to slowly pour the three cups of olive oil into the bowl through the feed tube and then I was supposed to process until the pesto was thoroughly pureed. After that, I was supposed to add the two cups of Parmesan and puree for a few minutes. Finally I was supposed to serve or store the pesto in the refrigerator or freezer with a thin film of olive oil on top.


Here comes the twist in the plot of the story. I had only one cup of olive oil (not three) with no backup in the pantry and only one cup (not two) of Parmesan cheese. So instead of an Italian dinner at home, we went to the theater to see "I Am Love," a beautiful, difficult movie that takes place in Italy, then on to BRAVO, an Italian restaurant in the neighborhood and had Italian Wedding Soup for dinner. Tomorrow come back and I'll let you know if we were able to create our own Italian dinner (Pesto Pasta with Meat Balls) at home.


(This recipe came from "Barefoot Contessa" 2000 and measurements as stated are for a double batch of Pesto.)