food and beverage

Many of you may have visited Cookware.com in shopping for your own kitchen or perhaps in selecting gifts. They carry everything from the smallest kitchen gadget to professional-caliber equipment. An online discussion between one of their writers and kitchen experts, Jamie Sward, and I focused on trends that we had both noticed as more and more people are affected by the economic downturn, and are trying to economize to make the most of the holidays. This post is the result of that exchange and includes Jamie's input as well as my own take on the return to comfort food.
Since times are tough and the economy isn't looking so good, the effects of the deteriorating economic situation can be seen everywhere, including in the kitchen! To save money, people are dining in rather than going out, buying their groceries in bulk, and looking for ways to maximize more expensive ingredients such as meat and seafood. In times like these, comfort foods play a dual role - they help stretch the food dollar and they have a tendency to lift spirits. When it comes to making these time-honored and comforting food classics - having the essential kitchenware helps by cooking your dish properly and even cooking your dinner for you while you are at work! Crockpots and casserole dishes allow you to make and store larger quantities of food, helping you save money and time by making food for a few days at a time. Just about any stew, soup, chili or pasta dish can be made as a casserole or in a crockpot. You can start with some simple dishes, and then get more adventurous as you become comfortable. Here are some of our favorites:

Macaroni & Cheese
Jamie and I agreed that regardless of whether we're talking about the orange stuff (for kids, not foodies) or the homemade variety - mac & cheese is a quintessential comfort food. The is nothing to make your mouth water more than a delicious homemade macaroni & cheese with a breadcrumb topping. I have to say that mac and cheese is a dish that my kids agree is best made by my mother! The best thing about mac & cheese is how customizable it is. The ingredients are so basic that they leave plenty of room for individuality and personality. Throw in some bacon, sausage, veggies, and use gourmet cheeses - whatever you want! You can keep it simple and purist, or make it a gourmet delight. Bake it up in a big glass casserole dish and you've got a nice hot meal for the entire family! (Just watch out for the "cheese hogs" in your family who try to take more than their share of the cheesy top!)

Homemade Chili

These are just three universal examples of comfort foods that Jamie and I had in common. In our family, turkey pot pie made from our holiday turkey is comfort food, as is shepherd's pie with its mashed potato crust, and slow-cooked pot roast. Casseroles and slow cookers are great tools for home cooks who are short both time and money. Start with a few core basic ingredients that your family likes, and don't be afraid to try something new or experiment a bit with a recipe to make your own comfort food favorites. By using a crockpot or casserole to make your favorite comfort food, you can even cook once and eat twice (or more). Some newer crockpots offer features such as a delayed timer, removable crocks and even locking lids that let you take your comfort food to share. For meals that save you both time and money, you just can’t beat that!

What about family's favorite casseroles or comfort foods? Is there a family soup or stew recipe, or a casserole that everyone always asks you to bring to the office potluck? Is there a special casserole dish that holds not only food, but memories for you? Let us know what equals comfort food to you.

While I really love Christmas, it is truly the worst time to be a working mom. There is so much to do and so little time and all the holiday duties are in addition to all that you do in your normal life. In addition there is so much pressure- to choose the perfect present, to plan the perfect meal or party, to have the perfect family get-together, or the perfect holiday outfit. I have to admit, I have been caught up in this a bit and while I have been eating and making good food, blogging about it has suffered as a result.

While I may not be the perfect food blogger,I do want to catch you up on some recent food happenings and connect with the food blogosphere where many of you are also dealing with the pressure to be perfect!

After Thanksgiving, we got together with friends for a Thanksgiving leftover cook-off. It was great fun and while some unadulterated leftovers were on the table, our host used her leftover turkey to make a Thai dish that had coconut milk and a bit of spice that was delicious, and was a complete change of pace. I had decided to make an appetizer of baked brie topped with leftover whole berry cranberry sauce I had made, mixed with a little hot pepper jelly to add heat, but I wanted to do something unique with turkey as well. For inspiration I had to go no further than the free cookbook that was handed out at Costco earlier in the day. If yougot this cookbook, there are a lot of great ideas for food for the holidays and beyond! There I saw a recipe for a turkey pizza, so I fooled with the ingredients a bit and made my own version that used Pillsbury Recipe Creations for the crust, pesto, leftover turkey, craisins and smoked gouda cheese.

Recipe Creations were one of the products I was sent to try at the time of the Iron Chef pizza challenge, and this was my chance to give them a try. It is like crescent roll dough, but without the perforations so you have many more options when using it as a basis for a recipe. My version based on the Costco recipe was a big hit- even at room temperature. If we had eaten it hot from the oven it would have been even better. This is a great product that you can use to put together a quick appetizer, main dish or even dessert, and perfect for kids who want to play with food.

Give it a try, and take a break from trying to do it all - the best way to a perfect holiday season is to forget about perfection and just enjoy!!

How can you tell it is almost Thanksgiving at our house? My kids would say that the precursor for Thanksgiving is the smell of silver polish, Windex,and Guardian furniture polish. For me, I really can't get to the food until the house is clean. I usually begin with the most dreaded task in my home- defrosting our extra freezer and cleaning the fridge and pantry. Besides helping me organize and taking stock of what I have and what I need for the Thanksgiving feast, It helps make room for the frozen birds that I buy on special (this year $.49/pound) and for the quarts of frozen stock that will result from our turkeys. This time I even wrote down an inventory and typed up the list to help me keep track of what I am using out of my freezer, so I don't end up with no chicken and 20 pounds of stew meat!

Since at my Thanksgiving table I use all my best serving ware, it means that I have to open up my corner hutch and clean all the crystal and silver that will find its way to the table. Here is another of my tips- if you have beautiful things- china, crystal, linens and they sit unused in your cupboards, get them out! For years I would not usemy Waterford since I was afraid it would get broken or chipped and with the decline of the dollar, I could never afford to replace it. But then I realized- What am I saving it for!!? Since then, I use my very best things for festive family dinners. It says to your family and guests, "You are worth the best that I have to offer", and makes your meal really memorable.

My daughter has made acorn napkin rings, and I have purchased dark chocolate turkey placecard holders to mark each person's place. I have stocked the pantry, printed out all my new recipes and made my first batch of brine (we are making two turkeys this year so one will get roasted this evening).

What are the things that preceed your Thanksgiving day cooking? Do you have to iron your favorite linen tablecloth, or clean your oven? Or do you just dive right in?

Can you imagine a more bucolic name for a place than Nellysford? Just the name of the little hamlet conjures visions of green pastures with cows and goats, long slow days and country stores. In fact, it is the home of Wintergreen Resort, a four-season resort in the mountains of Virginia. While being near Wintergreen and its winery is a nice part of Nellysford, our favorite part is a tiny vine-covered building that houses Basic Necessities, a combination cheese-wine shop and cafe that has become part of our routine when we head to the mountains to camp. Our love affair with Basic Necessities started when we began heading to Crozet for lunch at La Coccina del Sol on our way to Crabtree Falls. Nearly halfway between Crozet and Crabtree, we found this lovely little shop and stopped to check it out.

When walking in, you are immediately assailed by the smell of freshly baked breads and whatever soups and specials are on the menu for the day. While Basic Necessities is tiny, it is packed with culinary treasures from their assortment of outstanding cheeses, to their fresh-baked breads, to their wine room- the focus is on offering customers the best of the best. We got a bottle of wine, some cheeses and a baguette that was still warm and decided to forego the dinner we had planned and instead have fruit, cheese and bread after we set up camp.

The staff at Basic Necessities is always helpful, no matter how busy they are. When they had run out of a cheese we had had before, they took the time to write down the name for our friends so they could look for it in their own area. Owners Kay Pfaltz, Bev Lacey and Keith Dix are a part of the slow food movement and in the summer months offer organic produce for their customers as well. Their affiliation with Blue Heron Farm, a pesticide-free farm less than two miles away enables them to provide local produce to their many devotees.

I can't imagine a more delicious meal than being surrounded by the beauty of the Blue Ridge Mountains, ripping into a fresh baguette and slathering it with soft and creamy Tallegio cheese. It has become part of camping routine, and now we have taken to stopping on the way down the mountain so that we can bring a bit of Basic Necessities home. If you live near Nellysford or travel to the area, be sure to check it out- you will not be disappointed. They offer high quality, delicious food in a warm, friendly atmosphere. And try the cafe - my family has not done so yet because of our Coccina del Sol addiction, but people line up to eat in their cozy back room, and if the food tastes as good as it smells- you are in for a real experience! If you are near Nellysford, stopping by this shop is a basic necessity!

A food blog is not necessarily a place for politics, but
I was inspired by Tanya Steel's election night menu on Epicurious and so I put one of our own together to give us sustenance through what promised to be a long election night. In putting a menu together I wanted to have a dish that represented each of the major four candidates. For John McCain, I did a Tex-Mex dish of Chiles Rellenos with Black Bean Sauce (these were an ugly, but delicious dish served with a mango-peach salsa).

For Sarah Palin, since I couldn't find moose I settled for a smoked salmon with capers.
For Barack Obama, I strayed from the usual
Chicago deep dish pizza, and chose a dish that commemorates his time as a youth in Hawaii - Spam Musubi, a sushi made with Spam (Hawaii is the state that consumes the most Spam). When I saw this I was intrigued, so I decided to give it a try. I had a hard time finding something specific to Delaware, so I went to the state's agricultural page and found that Delaware produces chickens, so I opted for oven-fried chicken, maybe a bit Southern for Joe Biden, but a great option for my less adventurous diners.

Everything turned out great, and the surprise of the evening was definitely the musubi - it was surprisingly good, and made us anxious to try our hand at more homemade sushi. It definitely won my vote.

In case you want to give it a try (maybe for Inauguration day), here is how to make you own Spam Musubi.

Hawaiian Spam Sushi

2 cups uncooked sushi rice
2 cups water
6 tablespoons seasoned rice vinegar
2 tbsp sesame seeds
2 finely chopped scallions
6 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tbsp Splenda
1 (12 ounce) container fully cooked Spam (I used light)
5 sheets sushi nori (dry seaweed)

2 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp honey

Cook sushi rice according to the directions. Set aside and add rice vinegar, sesame seeds, scallions, soy sauce and splenda, and mix well. Let cool until rice can be handled.
Slice luncheon meat lengthwise into 8 slices, or to desired thickness, and brown on both sides in about 1 tablespoon oil. Add soy sauce and honey to make sauce for the spam, and then turn off heat.

Put slice of cooked Spam in the bottom of the Spam can and pack in rice mixture to a depth of about 1 inch. Turn upside down and wrap nori around musubi. Repeat until all slices have been used. Serve at room temperature or chilled with wasabi and soy sauce.
(The nori makes the musubi look burned in the picture, but they are not).

I am just back from the polls, where at 6:30 AM we waited about 20 minutes. Seeing the incredible crowds of friends and neighbors, I wondered where many of them have been in the many smaller elections that affect their lives everyday. It is great that this election has energized people who normally don't vote, but I hope this enthusiasm will get people to educate and involve themselves in the political process on a regular basis, not just 2008. After all, men and women for generations have fought to allow us this freedom,and we owe it to ourselves, our children and our country to exercise that right. So whether you support Obama or John McCain, when you vote today, make yourself a pledge to vote every time you have the opportunity, and to carry your enthusiasm past November and past January to every first Tuesday in November!

Note: I will be posting later on my Election Night dinner party.

Food plays a big part in our family traditions and holidays and Halloween has been a big family deal since our children were small enough to push around in a stroller. With my brother-in-law,his wife and two cousins living nearby, it has become a family tradition to get together on Halloween night. When our kids were small, food was not such an issue since they were too excited and too busy getting into costumes to grab any more than a bite, but as they have grown up (this was the first year we had no one of "legal" age to trick or treat), food and decorating has become a bigger focus, and as usual, the kids look for "traditional foods that they remember from their childhood. Though I experiment every year,the most popular food on the Halloween Boo-Fay is still Pigs in a Blanket!

This year the kids scoured the internet and found some horrifying recipes such as cat litter cake (refused to make it!), and dip that was placed so that it looked like jack-o-lantern vomit (not appetizing). What we chose to make was a bit tamer,but we gave our dishes all disgusting names, and the kids got into carving pumpkins and getting into costumes.

I did a lot of the prep ahead of time so there was less to do when the doorbell started ringing with little ghouls and goblins. Here is the translation of our dishes:

Bloody Eyeball Punch - A punch made of cranberry juice, diet ginger ale and frozen mixed berries (with some plastic eyeballs to add a little horror!)

Troll eye salad- Using a lettuce leaf (or basil,if you have it) as a base, put two slices of tomato (I used Campari) and cut mozzarella balls in half for the eyeballs and sliced pimento-stuffed olives as the pupils. I made a pesto vinaigrette to put around the troll eyeballs, adding taste and effect! This was a great way to get people to eat veggies in the midst of carb-laden comfort foods.

Mummified pigs- The beloved pigs in a blanket - tube biscuits wrap 1/4 slice of American cheese and a small smoked sausage

Roasted witches fingers- Blanched asparagus spears wrapped in strips of puff pastry brushed with pesto and sprinkled with parmesan. I used a sliced almond to simulate the fingernail at the end of the witches finger-these looked and tasted great!

Good and evil bean dip- I made two bean dips- one with a white bean base and the other with a black bean base. The white bean dip included parmesan, garlic, olive oil, lemon juice and fresh cilantro. The black bean dip included chipotle pepper, bacon bits olive oil and shredded cheddar cheese and green onions.

Flesh cups of hot cheesy guts - Take premade biscuits and pressinto muffin cups and fill with your favorite chili recipe and shredded cheese. Bake until biscuit is brown and top is hot and bubbly.

Stuffed vampire hearts - I used mini red peppers,removing tops and slicing open one side so they laid flat. Put on a greased cookie sheet and fill with a mixture of italian sausage with queso fresco cheese. Bake about 15-20 minutes, or until sausage is cooked through. These are a favorite among males!

My advice for a fun Halloween evening for the cook as well as guests:

Plan ahead - Decide your menu, decorate, find your jack-o-lantern design and carve

Choose foods that can be made ahead and stand up to sitting around for awhile. Appetizer-type foods, soups, stews or chili in a crockpot, make for easy entertaining.

Little details make a difference- Dress in a costume, print out a special menu and decorate your table to make your meal an event. Good food that is also fun will encourage kids to fill up on nutritious foods before diving into Halloween treats!

Use disposable plates and utensils to make less work.

Have the dishwasher empty so everyone can rinse and load their dishes and keep the mess to a minimum.

Create your own family traditions on Halloween that are meaningful to you and your kids-Tell ghost stories, watch a scary movie together, play games, whatever your family enjoys.

Enjoy!!!

Above: A ghoul, A VP candidate, and a guest on Jerry Springer hit the Halloween Boo-Fay!

If you have read this blog much you know that camping is a big part of our family life, and so when Foodbuzz solicited unique meals as part of their 24-24-24 promotion,it should come as no surprise that I thought a meal in the mountains would be just the ticket. Normally we are tent campers,but one of the cabins at Crabtree Falls Campground came available and my husband told them that we would take it - believe me, it was a decision that made all the difference. The end of October in the mountains is usually a little cool so we were prepared, packing layers, and our zero degree sleeping bags, getting ready for our part of the 24Meals, 24 Hours, 24 Blogs at Foodbuzz. Our friends were driving all the way from North Carolina (a six-hour trek for them) and we expected them to arrive between 10 and 11 PM. We settled in, unpacked, with the girls organizing and setting up the beds in the cabin, and we set up our friends' tent. We had some great cheese and a baguette, my husband made a fire and we settled in, enjoying the beauty of the woods, the babbling of the Tye River (at uncharacteristically low levels) and the changing foliage.

The 24 we weren't prepared for was the nearly 24 hours of rain that started about 8:30 PM on Friday. Starting as a spitting rain, it became a steady drip and then a downpour that chased us to the warmth of the cabin, where my husband conked out, and the girls and I played Pictionary Man with the rain beating mercilessly on the roof as we waited for Julie, Anthony and Lilly to get there. Finally they arrived and we convinced them to sleep in the loft of the cabin instead of unpacking into the tent in the rain (which was a deluge by this time!). Lilly, who is six,climbed in with the girls, and her parents settled onto an air mattress in the loft and after some giggling and joking, finally there was no sound but measured, regular breathing and the beating of the rain on the roof.

Saturday started with more rain, and so it was time to improvise. The cabin had a narrow porch with a bench, which became the sheltered place where I cooked breakfast starting with a big pot of coffee -I had bought a new Coleman percolator for this trip, and in the damp cold and steady rain, the sound of coffee percolating was a particularly welcome one. As if the weather wasn't enough of a challenge, a problem in the pumphouse meant that there was no water - for toilets, showers or washing dishes.

About midday, suffering a bit from cabin fever (literally!) we headed to Saunder's Brothers Orchard to get apples for my Foodbuzz dessert. We have visited there often on our trips to the mountains, but the kids were thrilled that they had farm animals and they took turns holding them while we shopped for some apples and local cheese. It was perfect break from the relentless rain for both the kids and the grown-ups. And with bags of apples in our car, as we headed up the mountain we saw something unbelieveable, and welcome... a patch of blue sky!!

Once we returned, I started preparing my Foodbuzz dinner. Now the most important part of preparing meals in the wilds is good planning. I selected the menu in advance - a Chicken Chili based on a recipe I found on the Whole Foods site, Cheese Cornbread baked on the top of the campstove in my cast iron skllet, and for dessert, gingerbread with apples and caramel. Since I was making a new recipe, I used the recipe to check that I had all ingredients as I packed. When you are 30 minutes up the mountain on winding roads from the nearest supermarket it makes sense to check and double check. I had never made a chicken chili before, but with both ground turkey and chunks of chicken thigh meat, lots of onions, pinto beans, corn and a variety of spices, this chili was a big hit with just the right amount of heat. Served with grated cheese, sour cream and chopped fresh cilantro and avocado, there were seconds all around and a big bowl sent up to Dave, the campground owner, who had worked all day getting the water up and running. The chili was just what the doctor ordered as the air cleared and turned cold.

Dessert is an old fall camping favorite, a great excuse to use Saunder's delicious apples, in a hot caramel sauce and whipped cream. I made the gingerbread in muffin tins and carried them with us, and prepared the apples on the campstove by lantern light. Spicy, sweet, rich and fruity- is there a better dessert?

Even with crappy weather, and a few challenges, there is nothing like a great meal with good company in breath-taking scenery, and our Foodbuzz dinner, served to the sounds of the now-rushing waters of the Tye River, and with the crimson and rust backdrop of an Appalachian October. No five star restaurant in the Michelin guide can even touch it!

Campfire Churkey Chili (Serves 8)

1 large onion chopped
2 garlic cloves, chopped
1 pound of ground turkey
5 boneless skinless chicken thighs, cut into chunks
1 can of white corn drained
1/2 cup salsa (I used a medium salsa)
1 can of pinto beans, rinsed and drained
1 can tomato sauce
1 chipotle chili, chopped fine
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon coriander
1 teaspoon bittersweet paprika
1 teaspoon chili powder
Salt to taste (I used about 1 1/2 teaspoons)

Saute onions and garlic in olive oil, and add chicken and turkey to brown, breaking up meat and add spices. Once meat is brown add corn, beans, salsa and tomato sauce. Cook at a simmer for about 20 minutes. Taste and adjust seasonings if necessary. Serve with sour cream, shredded cheese, and chopped cilantro and avocado.