Summertime! Savor the Freshness!

This Memorial Day weekend marks the official start to grilling season, if not the unofficial start of summer.  Area farmers' markets are opening and the treasures of early spring planting are hitting those markets.  From fiddleheads to ramps, spring peas to baby spinach, freshness is awaiting the chance to balance the smokiness from so many backyard grills.

At a recent visit to one of my favorite local markets, Idylwilde Farms in Acton, I picked up produce for my weekly menu, making mental notes for my next shopping list and the long holiday weekend menus.  Beautiful strawberries up from Virginia, local baby spinach, asparagus and goat cheese made the list for salad and dessert courses.  Fresh English peas, mint and basil from my own garden are begging for some creamy ricotta and a baguette.  Heirloom tomatoes from Florida and early corn out of Georgia shout summer!

After spending time with friends and neighbors watching our town's Memorial Day parade and services, we'll be headed home to our backyard to enjoy some long overdue sunshine and warmth.  Our holiday menu includes:

• Pea, Mint, Basil and Ricotta Cheese on Grilled Baguette*
• Grilled Lamb Chops
• Grilled Asparagus
• Israeli Couscous with Corn, Tomatoes, Bacon and Basil
• Strawberry Spinach Salad topped with Toasted Almonds and Goat Cheese
• Strawberry-Rhubarb Crumble flavored with Aged Balsamic Vinegar*
• * recipes to follow

Lavendar lemonade, a 2009 Bandole Rose' and Samuel Adams Summer Variety pack will round out our beverages for Memorial Day.

I hope you enjoy the recipes that follow.  As you prepare your menu, think seasonally, buy locally when possible and most of all, count your blessings and share them!  Remember this Memorial Day those who gave the last full measure of devotion to secure our freedom, values and liberty.  Remember their families whose sacrifices are often overlooked.  Take time to say a prayer, to say thank you to those who serve, and remember those honored dead whose faith in, and service to our country make our hometowns special places to be this and every weekend! 

Herbed Pea and Ricotta Cheese Spread

1 pound fresh, shelled Spring peas
1/3 cup fresh basil, torn:  reserve about 1 tablespoon of basil for garnish
 2 tablespoons fresh mint leaves, torn (I prefer spearmint):  reserve 1 tsp of mint for garnish
1 cup part skim ricotta cheese
      or 1/2 cup ricotta and 1/2 cup fresh goat cheese
1 tsp freshly grated lemon zest
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
French baguette

In a small pot, bring to a boil 4 cups of water.  Add a hefty pinch pf salt.  Add peas and cook for 3-4 minutes, until tender, but still firm not mushy.  Drain and rinse the peas in cold water to stop the cooking and preserve the bright green color.  Dry the peas on paper towels.

In the bowl of a food processor, combine the herbs, zest, peas, cheese, salt and pepper and oil.  Process until smooth and creamy.  Taste and adjust seasonings. 

Cut the baguette into 1/4 inch slices.  Using a pastry brush, lightly oil both sides of the bread slices.  Sprinkle one side lightly with salt and pepper.  Grill the bread for about 1-2 minutes per side, or until light brown grill marks appear on the bread.       Watch carefully...the bread can burn easily!

 **Alternate method:  after oiling and seasoning the bread, place the bread on a foil lined baking sheet.  Place the bread under a preheated broiler for 1-2 minutes and turning once the bread has turned golden brown.  Remove from oven when both sides are browned and allow the slices to cool slightly. Continue as follows:

Remove the bread from the grill and allow the slices to cool slightly.  Spread about 1 tablespoon of spread on each baguette slice and garnish with julienned mint and basil.  Drizzle with a little bit of olive oil if desired.     Serve immediately.

Leftover herbed cheese mixture can be stored , covered in the refrigerator for a couple of days.  Use as a creamy pasta sauce by adding 1 cup of water from pasta pot to the cheese and toss with hot pasta...add lots of cracked black pepper!

Strawberry-Rhubarb Crumble with Aged Balsamic Vinegar    

1 quart strawberries, washed, hulled and sliced
2 cups rhubarb cut into 1 inch pieces
1/2 cup super fine sugar
zest of one lemon
juice of one 1/2 lemon
2 tablespoons cornstarch
2 tablespoons aged balsamic vinegar (I use 25 year old BV)

Crumble topping

1cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup all purpose flour
1/2 Old Fashioned Rolled Oats
1 cup dark brown sugar
1 1/2 sticks COLD unsalted butter, cut into pieces
1 tsp vanilla extract
Pinch of salt
cold water

In a large bowl mix lemon juice and zest with berries and rhubarb.  Add remaining ingredients, except vinegar and toss gently but mixing thoroughly.  Place the mixture in a 2 quart oven safe bowl or casserole dish.  Drizzle mixture with balsamic vinegar.

In the bowl of a food processor, combine flours, sugar and oats.  Process until well mixed.  Add butter, salt and vanilla.  Pulse the processor until the mixture is, dry,coarse and crumbly.  Add 1-2 tablespoons of cold water to bring the topping together so it holds its shape when a small amount is pressed into a ball. 

Sprinkle the crumble topping evenly over the fruit mixture.  Bake in a 350*F preheated oven for about 30 minutes or until the juices bubble through the topping.  Serve warm with vanilla or caramel ice cream or fresh whipped cream.

Happy Memorial Day Weekend.  Have a happy and healthy summer!
        

Good Old Fashioned (Microwave) Popcorn

Much to my dental hygenist's dismay, I love popcorn.  I grew up with the old aluminum Rival corn popper in which you added some corn oil and a couple of tablespoons of golden kernels and in minutes you had fluffy popcorn waiting for oodles of butter and salt...oh those were the days!  

Then sometime in the '80s Orville Redenbacher gave us what we thought was the next best thing to sliced bread...microwave buttered popcorn.  It was hot, buttery and nothing to clean up.  But here we are in the 21st Century and the thing that was too good to be true for every college student with a micro-fridge has been proved not to be so good.  Aside from the expense...have you priced the name brand popcorns lately...there have been a number of studies relating the dangers from inhaling the fumes produced by the food based chemicals released when you open the bag.  Not to mention the second degree burn you get when you just can't wait to rip open the bag!  Dupont and the companies that created or use the chemical (PFOA) that facilitates popping and flavor have agreed to remove the potential carcinogen from their process by 2015.  I have a simpler answer and you don't need to throw your Radar-Range away!  Pop your corn in a brown paper bag!

I have to admit that once I learned about the hazards of microwave popcorn, my consumption dropped way down.  I usually waited to inflict the hazard on myself when I had folks over for a big game or movie night...but no more.  My interest in popcorn was piqued just last week while I was on vacation with the hubby in Key West, Florida.  We went to an awesome restaurant called Fin, just off Duval St, in  a little alley. The chef is a cool guy who loves food...and he loves molecular gastronomy too.  Our server Adam, came over with a bowl of popcorn and told us this was the chef's take on the bread basket...the popcorn was airpopped and then seasoned with a dusting of pulverized lavendar buds and Carribean jerk spices.  The lavendar highlighted the floral notes of the chili peppers and offered a sweetness to the popcorn without being sugary...who woulda thunk that the flavor profile would be so addictively alluring.  I am pleased to say that I will be stealing this concept (if not the flavor combo itself) for future popcorn use.

So, don't waste your money and possibly health on costly microwave popcorn.  Invest in some brown paper lunch bags, some high quality popping corn and you can still use the microwave with the following method:

• Open and stand up a standard sized brown paper lunch bag. 
• Add 1/2 cup of popcorn kernels to the bottom of the bag. 
• Fold the top of the bag over and crease firmly, fold and crease again so the bag remains closed. 
• Caution:   DO NOT STAPLE or TAPE THE BAG!!  Doing this could start a fire in the microwave...so college students be warned...unless of course you need the fire alarm excuse to get out of a homework assignment...which I do not endorse btw!
• Stand the bag up on its bottom in the microwave...do not lay the bag on its side as the popcorn could blow open the bag.
• Microwave on high for 2 1/2 minutes and/or stop when the popping slows to 1 or 2 pops per second. 

There will be unpopped corn in the bag.  You can scoop out the freshly popped corn and try to re-pop the remaining kernels, but really it ain't worth the trouble.  You'll be saving so much money with this method that tossing a few old maids won't break the budget.

Once you've popped the desired amount of corn, you can add melted butter or flavored olive oil for a decadent treat.  If you are watching calories, a few spritzes from butter flavored sprays fit the bill or do like my new, creative chef friend and spice it up.

Some flavor suggestions:
A little spritz of buttery flavored spray helps the seasonings cling to the popcorn

• Grated parmesan cheese and fresh cracked black pepper
• Cinnamon sugar
• Garlic powder and a dried herb blend like Herbes de Provence (you can pulverize these in a spice mill and mix with the garlic powder for a more uniform seasoning)
• Use your favorite dry salad dressing seasoning packet  (Hidden Valley Ranch, Blue Cheese, etc)
• Toss in some chocolate covered raisins and or peanuts and some toffee bits...the chocolate melts onto the popcorn...you've got your own moose munchies!

There is nothing wrong with eating the popcorn straight up...in so doing, popcorn reclaims its spot among the healthy snacks your family can enjoy. 

Let me know what flavor combinations you've tried and liked.  Bon appetit!

What's a Mom To Do?

I got back from the grocery store after a week long vacation, having to replenish some basics  and get a leg up on my menu planning and I spent $160!  I did break one of my cardinal rules and went to the store without my  shopping list, but I did have a good breakfast before I went, so impulse buying was at a minimum.

I needed some fresh fruits and vegetables, some "proteins" for a couple of nights' dinners and a few other things to round out the menus for a few days.  There were berries, a zucchini, an eggplant, some asparagus, corn on the cob, cucumbers and scotch bonnet peppers.  I picked up some mint, cilantro and a bag of baby spinach.  I picked up  a half gallon of skim milk, some sliced cheeses, a baguette, a hunk of Irish Cheddar and some melba toast rounds (for snacking).  There was a piece of tuna, some fresh shrimp, a couple of chicken sausages and 2 center cut pork chops.  My big indulgence was some dark cherry preserves to enjoy with the cheese and bread or maybe as a glaze for the pork...but that is pretty much it!   One hundred and sixty bucks!

In a day or two, my adult children will be descending upon the old homestead...one for the summer, the other for a long weekend visit...and I will have to grocery shop for four adults instead of two.  Oh, la, la!  I will be sure to make a list, collect my coupons and peruse the store circulars for best buys and sales.  But, the shopping list almost always begins with a weekly menu framework...and I fill in or substitute the framework based on what's in season, what's on sale and special requests from the family.  For example, Emily loves marinated chicken wings and rice...her vegetable of choice, roasted carrots...so that or some close iteration will be on thise week's menu.  Carrie loves vegetables, so we'll have some sort of pasta prima vera with loads of grilled veggies...I think I'll set aside that Italian eggplant that I bought for just such a purpose. 

Another strategy for surviving sticker shock at the store is to plan multiple meals using key menu components.  For example, I'll buy a larger roaster chicken and prepare that early in the week.  Between the four of us, we'll eat about half the chicken.  I'll save half for another meal or two later in the week.  I'll use the chicken carcass for soup stock.  Any leftover veggies from our roast chicken dinner, let's say, fresh English spring peas and carrots can go into the stock with a cup of chopped left over chicken...add some onion, celery and some left over rice from Emily's favorite meal, and ta dah, we have soup for Soup Supper on Dad's gym night!  With the remaining chicken, I can make a chunky chicken salad, that is all the rage now.  I toss the remaining chicken that I've cubed with 2 green apples, cored and cut up into bite sized chunks, a 1/3 cup of dried cranberries, 2 ribs of celery, diced into pieces about the same size as the chicken and apples, 1/3 cup of toasted pecans, rough chopped, some fresh parsley and a light dressing made of 1/4 cup light mayo, 2 tablespoons apple or cranberry juice, 1 tbsp of cider or white wine vinegar, a pinch of salt, sugar and white pepper.  I'll serve this salad in lettuce cups...I like Boston or Iceberg lettuce for this...so there you go...3 pretty easy meals based on one chicken which tends to be on sale somewhere each week!

If you are crazy like me, build out your menu framework as far out as you can with your basic pantry items....so, things like  pasta, potatoes, root vegetables, can be plugged in over the course of a month...this way you'll get a sense of how many onions and carrots you'll need in a month, and these  are usually a good way to buy in bulk and save some money.  Unless you have a large freezer, it is usually better to by your fresh produce and meats a couple of times a week.  It use to amaze me how much food I used to toss in the compost pile because I went shopping twice a month rather than twice a week.  I'd think I was saving money because I picked up two quarts of strawberries (buy one get one free...) but unless I had a specific plan for them...I often found myself pickin' fuzzy berries out f the carton and in the end just chucking them, because I didn't plan to usee them or worse, didn't know how to store for the long term those precious perishables.  Let's stick with the strawberries as an example...these days, when I know strawberries are in season, I keep in mind the many different ways I can use them in sweet and savory applications.  I also stock up in freezer bags.  If you quickly rinse and dry the whole strawberries (remove the leaves and inner hull), you can place the berries in a single layer in a freezer bag and lay them flat in your freezer for future use...I have kept them for up to four months in the freezer and they are great to add to strawberry sauce for shortcakes or add them to your breakfast smoothies....they are great additions to a mixed berry muffin in the winter time!  I'd say the point here is, it isn't a great savings or even free if you wind up throwing food away because you didn't plan...buy what you need in season and when possible can or freeze for the off season...a visit to the library for books on food presevation is a wise use of time.

I've mentioned this menu framework without much description...sorry!  I print off a monthly calendar page and I literally fill in the blanks with dinner ideas (1 portion meat/protien, 2-3 portions of veg, 1 fruit and sometimes 1 starch)...I first block off any nights I know when we have other plans away from home and then I try to plan red meat for dinner once a week, pasta once a week, fish twice a week, chicken or pork once or twice a week...we eat soup and salad once a week on the nights we are at the gym...it is just easier to prepare and not so filling as to undo all the hard work with the trainer!  I also add in a pizza or take-out night every once in a while in the month...if you add it to your menu plan, you can save up for it.  When mapping out the month this way, it is easier to see the opportunities for stretching a main protien item, like the roast chicken suggestion above. Menu planning this way also builds a grocery list before your eyes!  It affords you the chance to store/freeze/pre-cook anything from your recent grocery trip that may not have made the menu...I forgot about dinner out with friends, so the chops have been wrapped and are in the freezer for next week!

This week's menu  for us looks like this...Sunday:  Grilled Chicken Sausage "sub" with carmelized onions in piece of baguette, grilled asparagus, spinach, goat cheese and strawberry salad with balsamic dressing  Monday: Celtics Game  Tuesday:  Grilled Tuna Ceviche in Endive leaves and Multigrain Tortilla Chips, Spicy Pickled Cucumber Salad  Wednesday:  Grilled Asparagus Soup with Cheesy Baguette Croutons and Grilled Shrimp Skewers  Thursday:  Israeli Couscous with Grilled Zucchini, Fresh Corn off the Cob,  Cherry Tomatoes, Basil and Applewood Smoked Bacon.  Friday:  Dinner  out with Friends   Saturday:  Chicken Wings and Thighs, Wild and Brown Rice, Roasted Carrots and Sauteed Spinach and Homemade Applesauce.  Sunday: Pasta Primavera with eggplant, asparagus, zucchini and roasted tomatoes.

My little indulgence isn't listed...I plan on having a slice or two of baguette with some light, sliced Swiss cheese, toasted and topped with a dollop of the cherry preserve...unusual but tasty.

So my strategic ideas for saving $$$:

• Menu plan
• Buy seasonal foods and locally
• Make a list using coupons and store sale circulars
• Portion control
• Multi-task your menu elements to stretch meals throughout the week
• Properly store food you cannot eat immediately
• Do NOT shop hungry!

Please let me know what you think of the tips...and feel free to pass along via the comments any ideas you have for stretching your food budget!  Thanks for reading!